Sonic the Hedgehog: Deep in the Shadows
by SonicFrank
Summary: This is a well-written story about the world through Sonic's eyes. If you're looking for a really good Sonic fic, this is the one. Please R&R, I've put my heart into this story. Okay, guys! Chapter three is FINALLY up! I'll finish the chapter soon!
1. A Hedgehog in Blue

There was a man.......a man in a blue suit...and pants black as a shadow. He wore glasses that shone as the light's rays did their job, reflecting off the glass and hiding his eyes beneath the brightness. He spoke words, impossible to understand. Computers and strange machines filled the background, leaving all of nature's beauty out of sight. This man......was the victim....  
  
The hedgehog's dark red eyes opened, gaining freedom from their lids. He lifted his head, ready to dash off on his jet-propelled sneakers. "He is the one", was all he said, before he sped off into the night sky.  
  
Sonic The Hedgehog  
  
Deep In The Shadows  
  
Chapter One: A Hedgehog in Blue  
  
"Sonic!!!" the young fox screamed. "Sonic! Where are ya, Sonic!?" "Right here, Lil' Bro!" Tails turned to where the familiar voice came from and saw a familiar blue hedgehog laying down on a beach chair, chilidog in hand. "Man, ya'd think when ya get the smell of chili, you'd know I'm around!" Tails flew up to Sonic, landing by his side. "Well it's pretty hard to smell chili when you're in a sandy beach like this one. Especially when the smell of salt's all around." "Puh-lease! This hedgehog can smell a chilidog from a mile away! And get there in a quarter of a second!" Sonic winked at Tails.  
  
"Hey Sonic, bet ya can't beat me in a race to the farthest chilidog stand!" "Which is?" "At the end of the big city behind this beach!" "You're on!"  
  
With that, they took off. Fox by air, hedgehog by foot. Sonic ran face first, arms stretched behind him, legs in a blur, sneakers polished, and spines ready for a spin. He loved the feeling. Running at speeds no bird can fly or fish can swim. He loved the feeling of the soft wind pushing on his face, preventing his body from releasing any sweat. It was his pride, what he loved most. The only thing that kept his ego the size it was.  
  
Tails knew all this. He knew how much Sonic loved his speed. The feeling of the air moving swiftly through his body. He knew how much it meant to him, and how much he would suffer if it were taken away from him. Tails himself didn't want speed, or spines, or soap shoes. He wanted to be just like his blue, spiny hero. He wanted to be known all around the world for his coolness and bravery. He wanted to one day find a child just like himself who looks up to him, just like he does to Sonic. However, he didn't believe he could accomplish this task...  
  
"Hey Tails!" Sonic interrupted his thoughts. "Think ya can make it through the city!? I see some mondo traffic ahead!" "Sure thing, Sonic!" As soon as Tails finished assuring him, Sonic jumped onto a wall, bounced off, hit the ground, and ran at top speed along the streets of Mete'or. Hard as the black cement of the street was, Sonic ran swiftly as usual, with Tails right at his heels.  
They moved together. One by ground, one by air, constantly making glances at each other, smirking or smiling whenever their eyes met. Tails saw this as a reward. He saw a smirk or a nod from Sonic as proof that he is doing well with his speed, confidence, and loyalty. Tails was a brave young fox. Sometimes having a stronger heart than his blue hero himself. Sonic saw this in him. He knew that someday, Tails would become a greater hero than him. Sarcastic and hard-headed as he was, he would never admit it. At least not to Tails. A hero in training he was, and Sonic was proud to be his guidance.  
  
Together, they dodged cars, trucks, poles, water-pumps, signs, anything that could possibly get in their way. Fast as he was, wind trailed behind him at all times, usually scattering held papers or wrinkling people's clothes and hair. Sonic loved it when he ran past somebody who's hair was at first neatly combed, all of a sudden found it trailing behind him as he sped by, with only their roots to hold them from the traveling wind. The Blue Blur he was. And the Blue Blur he would always be.  
"Sonic! There it is!" Tails screamed as he pointed toward a chilidog stand with a yellow and red umbrella above it. "Time ta' pick up the juice!" Sonic said with a smirk, barely stopping to perform his well-known Spin Dash. If not for the spin dash, the duo would have reached the goal as a tie, but with the added speed, Sonic won the race by fifteen feet or more.  
By the time Tails got to the stand, Sonic was leaning against the counter, chilidog and soda in hand. "Man, am I the priority hedgehog or what!?" "You're WHAT!" Tails shot back. "No fair! I don't have a spin dash!" "Well I do, and I gotta perfect pair o' spines to use it!" Sonic yelled in a hip show-off way as he admired himself in a small pocket- mirror. "Be careful, it might break from all the pressure." Tails said sarcastically. "What pressure? All I see is hedgehog-perfection..." Sonic ran his hand through the short fur on his head, from his bare forehead to the tip of his spine. "Yep, doesn't get any cooler than this!" "In that case the 'cool' phrase is totally outta' style." Tails was still being sarcastic, but Sonic showed no form of surrender. He loved himself, his spines, his short blue fur, his green eyes, his ego, and especially his overwhelming speed. He loved himself in every way. His pride, no one could take away from him.  
  
They spent hours there. Joking around, giving each other brotherly nudges, and talked about all of their adventures, Sonic doing most of the talking. The sun was going down, slowly, and shimmering in the sky, creating a pink aura around the bluish-black sky surrounding it. The green tops of the city's palm trees suddenly had a dark sensation to them, as the traveling sun's rays escaped only through the openings their long leaves provided. Although he wouldn't admit it, Sonic couldn't help but think, "Man, this is almost as beautiful as my sneaks'....."  
"Sonic!" Came a voice, a few feet directly behind the hedgehog's spines. Just as he turned around, pink arms engulfed his neck and a head rested on his peach-colored chest. "Oh Sonic, I missed you SOOOOO much!" Said the same voice, this time more lovingly. The fragrance of sweet honey surrounded the air, as Sonic tried to pull away from the bear hug. "Doh man, what's a hedgehog gotta do ta' gain a little independence!?" "Aren't you happy to see me, Sonic?" Amy questioned with a happy tone. "Yeah, mondo contento...." Sonic managed to choke out, trying desperately to escape the torture. "I knew you'd be happy! That's why I decided to tag along for awhile!" Sonic's mouth dropped in fear of the horror. Tails stood laughing in the background. "We're gonna have so much fun!" Amy exclaimed happily. "We can hang out together, go to the movies, find you a nice suit for our future wedding, and some shoes even YOU would like!" Amy sounded very excited to see her idol again. It always made her happy to be in his presence, he just didn't feel the same way about her...  
  
"Gaaahhhh....hate to break it to ya, Amy..." Sonic said hesitantly. "But it's JUICE TIME!!!" With that, Sonic grabbed Tails' wrist and sped off, leaving Amy in a whirl of blue wind, skirt and hair gliding with the current, practically pulling her along with it.  
  
Amy was left deserted, with nobody to accompany her. Sonic had broken her heart once again. Why she even bothered with him was engulfed in mystery. But still, she never gave up. She'd never met anyone like him. She never met anyone with an ego so strong, and a dream of freedom and peace so big before. He was the type to never admit his feelings for anyone. Like his heart was hidden beneath his skin. Life was never an open book while he was around, nore was it a locked journal either. His true feelings were mysteriously hidden inside him. Though they were always let out for everyone to see.  
  
His love for Tails was revealing as the ocean's blue, and his love for freedom and speed was shown by the way he expressed himself and acted around others. By the way he talked so sarcastically when something dumb was going on. By the way he rolled his eyes when Tails said something that's more obvious than he is a hedgehog. By the way he tapped his foot and walked around and checked his watch impatiently when waiting was the only option. His heart was a challenge to receive. This is what kept Amy's love for him so strong. And this, is what keeps her following his trail whenever she could. His heart was her's. And he knew it. He just kept it hidden, just like all the rest.  
  
"Sooonnnniiiicccccc!!! When are we gonna stop!?" Tails yelled at the top of his lungs, desperate for the speeding hedgehog to hear above the wind's blowing noises. To his surprise, Sonic stopped. They were back at the beach, where his beach chair lay lifeless. "Man, I thought the guys were supposed to be the stalkers..." Sonic said, panting. "I thought you'd never stop. My fur was getting puffy..." "When's that girl gonna give up? This hedgehog's WAY too cool for her!" "Why do ya say that? All she wants is 'Hedgehog Perfection' after all!" Tails said in a smart-tone, laughing at his joke afterwards. "Lose it Tails, or I'll........WHAT!?" Sonic stopped short. Confused at the sight before him.  
"Sonic! It's the Floating Island!" Tails yelled, pointing to the sky. "You're right, T-2!" As the duo looked toward the sky, gravity did its job, and pulled the crusty island down to the ocean. Once it hit the depths, an enormous tidal wave descended from it, heading straight for the beach. "C'mon Duce, we gotta jam before we end up desperate as Amy!" Sonic grabbed Tails' wrist and ran toward the street, pushing the sand back behind him. "Oh man, don't ya hate it when ya get sand in your sneaks!?" Sonic said to Tails. "That's why I'd rather fly!" Tails yelled back.  
  
"Man! Either that knuckle-head's got 'imself a girlfriend, or he just plain STINKS at guarding! Hold on to your socks, Tails! We're goin' warp- seven!!" Immediately, Sonic made a U-Turn and picked up the pace. Going faster by the second, he ran toward the water, barely stopped for a spin dash, and dashed across the ocean blue in a Sonic-Spin.  
  
"Whoa...." The echidna mumbled, rubbing his head with one hand, pulling himself up with the other. "The emerald!" He exclaimed, hardly taking any time to stand up properly, gliding away swiftly as a winged hawk.  
  
"What happened!?" Charmy asked no one in particular, buzzing around Mighty from leg to forehead. "Oh man.... I have no clue..." Mighty answered, slowly pulling himself to his feet. "C'mon! We gotta get things straight before Knuckles gets back!" Charmy warned in his usual short-toned voice.  
  
"Too late." Came a voice out of nowhere. "Little by little, Espio's figure appeared on the bark of a nearby tree. "You morons blew it! Ol' Red- head's on his way here right now!" Espio said with a grin, pointing his thumb backwards in the direction Knuckles was coming from. "What're you smiling about!? You're just as busted as we are!" Mighty shot back. "No, I'm supposed to be a lookout. You guys were supposed to guard the emerald! Not me!" "Well if you were a better lookout, you would've seen this coming!" Espio clenched his fist. "What're you saying!? That I stink as a lookout!? That I'm not good enough for you!?" "That's exactly what I'm saying!" "Well I suggest you watch your mouth!" "Oh yeah!? Make me!" Mighty had a smirk on his face. Espio could no longer control his temper, and fired a punch at the threatening armadillo.  
  
Mighty blocked the punch and aimed one of his own. Espio ducked and flipped backward, away form Mighty, and charged at him horn-first. Charmy grabbed Mighty's hand and pulled the armadillo into the air with him. "Hey! What're you doing!?" Mighty exclaimed, struggling to get free. "Ending all this nonsense!" Charmy yelled back. "ENOUGH!!!"  
  
All three stopped short, turning their heads in the direction the voice came from. Each gulped in fear at the sight before them. "What....happened?" Knuckles asked with his upper teeth clenching on the ones below them, causing his voice to sound alot angrier than usual. His fist was raised in front of him, allowing the sun to give his sharp knuckles a glaring shine. "I-I-I-It wasn't our fault, we didn't even see it coming..." Mighty started with a sweatdrop running down his cheek. "Yeah, Knuckles. It was so fast, there was no way we could've been able to stop it." Charmy backed him up. "Wasn't my fault, I was a lookout, and I didn't see anything, so there's no way I could've prevented it from coming." Espio said, leaning on a tree while chewing relentlessly on a toothpick.  
  
"Besides, it was Vec's turn to guard.....HEY! Where is Vector anyway!?" All four hurried to the room where the Master Emerald stood. Vector the Crocodile was indeed on guard, he just wasn't doing any guarding. Instead, he was dancing the night away, singing along with the music invading his ears. As usual, his walkman was strapped to his belt with the headphones comfortably covering the whole in both his ears. He never seamed picky as to what kind of music he was listening to, and from the way he was dancing, the four guessed it was disco.  
  
".................think there's any hope he saw who took it?" Mighty asked. "Not a chance..." Charmy answered. Eventually, the four viewers got annoyed at the performance. "Allow me" Mighty said, rolling his eyes. He then walked up to the Disco Croc, reached out, and pulled the headphones off his head. "YO! Gimme my phones, Bones!" Vector turned around to see the angry faces of his comrads. "Yo...what's goin' down?"  
  
Knuckles couldn't stand any more stupidity. He stomped out, leaving his team behind him. The Chaotix watched as their leader left them in the dust. They felt ashamed. Knuckles would usually take all the matters into his own hands, and the Chaotix would have to convince him to give them a part in the situation. Knuckles worked day and night as the guardian of the Floating Island, hardly getting the chance to lie down and rest from all his duties. It was very rare that Knuckles asked them to do him a favor, and when he finally did, they let him down. They felt like failiours. And so they were.  
  
Charmy was the first to retaliate from the sorrow. "Hey Knuckles! Wait!" He yelled as he flew ahead of the others. Mighty followed, Vector and Espio right behind him.  
  
Knuckles turned around in a fury. "WHAT!!!???" he exclaimed, leaving one to wonder whether that was a question or not. Charmy stopped short "Ehhmmmnnnggg......we just wanted to say we're sorry and...we wanna help you get the emerald back...." Charmy was sweating furiously. "Yeah, Boss. It was our fault all this happened, and we wanna help you get it back!" Mighty said in a 'pro' tone. "You're sorry? You're SORRY!? Do you imbossils realize what you've done!?" Knuckles' eyes were red with anger. Mighty backed away, while the others just awaited to be punished. "Because of you, I have FAILED my people! My ancestors will now see me as the guardian who let this island fall! The Master Emerald is NOT just a power source, it's a treasure to all my people! Every being on this island looks at the Master Emerald as a god who keeps them away from all the dangers of the land! If it were to be stolen, the guardian would be blamed! Now they'll look upon me as...." Knuckles burried his face in his gloves. "...a failior..."  
  
Mighty and Charmy were looking at the ground, now realizing how much pain they've caused their leader. Not physically, but emotionally. Vector once again had his headphones on, but was listening to Knuckles' lecture as well. Espio just leaned on a wall, crossed his arms and chewed on another toothpick. "Wasn't my fault. I was just a lookout." He reminded the others.  
  
"NO!" Knuckles shot back at the tempered chameleon. "You're all to blame equally!" Espio glanced at the red echidna, awaiting to find out why he was to blame. "You're all part of the same team! You're the world famous Chaotix! Not a bunch of ignoramuses joined together to form some stupid pop band! Anything Vector does wrong, you're ALL to blame! Anytime Espio can't control his temper, you're ALL to blame!" Mighty and Charmy continued to stare at the ground. Espio shrugged, careless as to whatever Knuckles had to say. Vector slowly turned his headphones off, realizing just how much he let everyone down.  
  
"You guys are a team! Not only that, you're best friends! Practically life partners! You're there for the island, AND each other, all day every day! That's what makes you a team! That's why you haven't given up on Epio's carelessness! Cause you're a team! That's why you haven't kicked Vector out 'cause he's always dancin' away while you're about to get your behinds kicked! Cause you're a team! And in case you haven't noticed, you all care deeply for each other! No matter how much you tick each other off, you've ALWAYS managed to stay together as the Chaotix!" The four team members looked at one another, realizing just how close they are to one another. Knuckles was right. They were practically family. They just hadn't realized it until now.  
  
"No...." Knuckles mumbled all of a sudden. The others listened on, awaiting their leader's next words. "This is MY fault." The depressed echidna sat on a step just below the one Mighty was sitting on. "It's my job as guardian of this island to protect the Master Emerald. I shouldn't have left the job to you. I should've been here instead of sleeping in the wilderness..." "Aw c'mon, Knux..." Mighty put his hand on Knuckles' shoulder. "You're only flesh and bone. You need to sleep every now and then." Mighty tried to cheer him up. "No, my job is to guard the Floating Island, not to doze off and let any possible danger slip through my claws. I should've been there. I shouldn't have left the island to you. This is MY island, and it's my job as the guardian to protect it by any means necessary. Sleep is NOT an option!" Knuckles sounded angrier by the second. "Everybody needs sleep. Tough tail-kickin' guardian or puny couch potato, you're always gonna need sleep." Espio finally pitched in, closing his eyes as he talked with his arms crossed while leaning his back on the wall.  
  
Knuckles stood up and started to walk ahead. "Hey...wh-where ya goin'?" Charmy asked as he lifted himself from his spot next to Mighty. "To find the Master Emerald." Knuckles answered, not stopping to turn around and face his crew. "We can help ya!" Mighty exclaimed. "NO!" They all backed away at once. "You guys are staying here to guard the island." "Knuckles turned around to face them. "Now I'm asking you as a leader and as a friend. Please, guard my island and keep it safe. At least until I get back."  
He looked at a pair of footprints, which somehow looked familiar to him. They seemed to be from somebody wearing boots, and they ended right in the middle of a dirt setting. Knuckles looked up and clenched his fists. "I'll get that bat girl if it's the last thing I do!" He wasted no time to get their reply, and floated off into the night sky.  
"Well....'tleast we didn't get any punishments..." Charmy broke the silence. The others just glared at him. "Eh-heh....." Charmy sweatdropped.  
  
Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails were well on their way towards Mushroom Valley, Sonic's feet moving swiftly before, during, and after each step, Tails in mid-air with a brownish-orange spinning propeller above his back. "Hey Tails, it's a long way to the Hidden Palace! You sure ya can last the whole way!?" "Of coarse I can! If I can keep up with you, I can do anything!" Tails smiled at Sonic, and the blue blur couldn't help but smirk back.  
  
Together, they dodged trees, quicksand, loads of giant mushrooms, and even a few over-sized ponds. Sonic ran above most of the watery depths, but Tails had to air lift him once in awhile, since Sonic sometimes felt a bit awkward when it came to water. It was a little known fact, but Sonic was indeed afraid of water. It seemed that anything he couldn't run on, he didn't like. It also left him wet whenever it touched him, and hedgehogs hate it when their spines get wet. Especially this hedgehog, since he didn't look good when wet.  
  
Once in the middle of the Mushroom Valley, Tails was getting tired, panting for breath every time he ex-haled. Sonic however, was moving swiftly as usual, glad to be free and filled with excitement as he practically broke through the wind with every precious step. Tails couldn't help but feel fascinated by watching his companion do what he loves most. With his gloved hands following him loosely behind his body, being pushed back by the wind caused by his rapid pace. Peach arms barely noticeable compared to his dark blue body under the shade of the giant mushrooms around him. His well-shaped spines suited him well, blessing him with a look no other creature has ever managed to obtain. Although not a part of his body, his red, white, and yellow sneakers shined beautifully along with his emerald green eyes. Tails always wondered how all these small details made Sonic such a unique character, and how such small features gave him such unimaginable figure.  
  
Sonic was indeed different. Special in every way. His unique personality made him quite unpredictable, although sometimes one could know exactly what he was thinking at a specific time, or where he was at a specific place. His humungous ego made him quite conceited, but for some reason, it wasn't in a bad way. It just showed how proud he was to be himself. A hedgehog. A hero.  
His way of life was different as well. He didn't have a home. He had no rules or regulations or deadlines. He was just.....free. Free was the only word that described his way of living. Sonic couldn't remember the last time he was in an apartment. The world was his domain. He ran through it freely, doing whatever he wants, whenever he wants. It meant alot to him, though he never really talked about it. With no land, he couldn't run. With no air, he couldn't feel the breeze he loves so much. The outdoor world gave him everything he wanted. That's why he strived to protect it. That's why he chose to be a hero. He didn't do it for fame or popularity. He did it to keep the freedom the world had blessed him with. To keep the air fresh, to keep the wind blowing, to keep the grass green, and to keep his way of life the way it was. Sonic loved his life, and the way it was being lived. He couldn't stand the thought of it changing for the worst, and he didn't know of any way it could possibly change for the better. He liked it just the way it was. And he would never let anyone or anything cause it to shatter.  
  
Tails' thoughts were interrupted by a big thud. Sonic was sent sailing into a nearby tree. "SONIC!!!" Tails yelled as he quickly went to his partner's aid. Sonic rubbed his head. "Man, either I was just knocked off my sneaks', or I've been eatin' WAY too many chilidogs!" They both looked in the direction the hit came from.  
  
In the moonlight stood Knuckles, fists up with the spikes pointing toward the intruders. Sonic quickly stood up, ready for a brawl. "Yo, didn't your mama ever tell ya to be curdious to guests!?" Sonic yelled, angry about the attack he just went through. "No time for games, hedgehog! I want you off my island immediately!" The threatening echidna yelled. "Big surprise, Knot-head! You hate company even more than I hate stop signs!" Sonic glared at the echidna, awaiting his comeback.  
  
"What're you doing here anyway!? Didn't we make a deal!? You're not supposed to come here without giving me notice!" Knuckles reminded. "We saw the island fall, and we wanted to check out what happened and see if you were allright or needed our help!" Tails finally got involved. "Yeah, but looks like SOMEONE isn't very thankful! Geez, a no thank you would've been enough, but a sock in the nose is WAY over the hill!" Sonic crossed his arms. "C'mon, Tails! Let's go find someone with a little gratitude!"  
  
Sonic grabbed Tails' wrist and prepared to speed off, but was forced to a stop by Knuckles' words. "Sonic! Wait!" Knuckles yelled as he motioned them to stop, desperate for the blue hedgehog to stop in his tracks. "Yeah!? What!? I'm waaaiiiitttiiinnngggg....." Sonic crossed his arms and tapped his foot. Knuckles hated to ask, but he had no choice. "Sonic, I need you to find a Chaos Emerald and bring it to me." "Huh? What for?" Sonic asked, interested in the task. "If I can get my hands on a Chaos Emerald, I can use it to find the Master Emerald." "How so?"  
  
"Well," Knuckles explained, "According to my ancestors, the Master Emerald shares a mysterious link with each of the seven existing Chaos Emeralds. It has a mind of it's own, and if it's somehow removed from its shrine, it'll know and want to return to its rightful place. Don't you get it, Sonic? The emerald knows I'm the protector of this island and the emerald itself. If it senses that I have one of the seven Chaos Emeralds, it'll use the link it has between them and lead me straight to it!" "And why're you depending on ME for this? Can't ya find an emerald yourself?" Sonic asked, unwilling to take the task. "Because even though I don't have any link to it, as guardian, I have the power to sense the Master Emerald at all times. Link or no link, I can't waste time looking for a Chaos Emerald when I have to restore my island. You're the only one I can count on to find a Chaos Emerald within three days. I'm not gonna beg you, Sonic. I'm just asking for your help. If you don't want to, don't. I have no time to argue. If you decide to help, I'll be around the Dry Lagoon."  
  
With that, Knuckles floated off into the air, disappearing between the clouds and the night sky. "So....are we gonna find an emerald for him?" "You betcha, lil' bro!" Sonic nudged Tails, following with a few brotherly laughs and punches. Noticing time wasn't on his side, Sonic sped off, clueless as to the adventure that awaited him in his path. 


	2. A Journey's Beginning

Chapter 2: A Journey's Beginning  
  
"This is it...the destination I've been searching for..." The black hedgehog kneeled on a tree's branch, staring downward at a short, yet long building. It had strong cement walls and was locked tight, with it's security cameras and alarms to back that up. He knew it'd be a challenge breaking in, but it didn't worry him a bit. All the while, his mind raced...  
  
He was in an escape tube...safe from any harm, and sure to leave the space colony before it was taken over. But Maria...she was out there...in the open...where the bullets roamed and lives were taken.  
  
She was running as fast as she could, but with a long skirt and high heels on her feet, running fast wasn't an option. One shot was all it took, and she was leaning on a machine covered with miscellaneous buttons, covering the spot in her chest where the bullet had struck. Hard as it was, she spoke loud and clear to her companion, her friend. "Shadow...do it for them...do it for the people...give them a chance...to be happy" Maria couldn't help but cough and pant after every few words, trying her best to ignore the pain that was urging her to hit the ground.  
  
Shadow just stared with disbelief, hands and chest leaning furiously on the glass before him, as if trying to reach beyond their solid limits. "MARIA!" He yelled with rage, and started pounding at the glass barrier which held him separate from her.  
  
"Shadow, I know you can do it, all you have to do is believe in yourself...just.....like...I taught you..." Maria started to lean on both her knees, still clutching the spot where her wound lay. "Goodbye....Shadow....the Hedgehog..." With that, Maria closed her eyes for the last time, and rested herself on the floor, where her last moments were spent peacefully.  
  
Before he could react, the tube in which Shadow was safely contained launched for Earth, banishing her from his future, and carving her in his memory.  
  
But before she fell, before she said her last words and saw her last view of the life she was forced to live, Shadow saw a man. A man with a weapon. He wore black pants with a blue, long sleeved shirt. He wore shining glasses, literally covering half of his face. But Shadow would never forget what he did see, and the face of the man with the weapon would be carved in his memory forever.  
On the tree he stood, eyes closed, mind racing through the treturous flashback. Out of the blue, his eyes opened at the speed of light, revealing the redness and the anger within them. "I will avenge her!" Was all he said, and he leaped off the branch with an amazing velocity, landed on the roof of the so-called 'museum', and wasted no time to plan his mission, as he sped away in a skating motion.  
  
In the woods, a blue blur passed by what seemed like a million trees, bushes, and even a few flowers, but the bright color of roses was rare in the depths of the Mystic Ruins.  
  
"Man! And I thought Knux was a wuss! C'mon Tails! Keep movin'! We gotta find a Chaos Emerald!" "We've been moving for hours, I'm tired!" "Tails! I haven't been tired of anything since Robuttnik gave us that lecture about all that energy and stuff!" "That was two months ago!" "Yeah! And that's a heck of a long time for THIS hedgehog!"  
  
Surprisingly to Tails, his blue enforcer stopped in his tracks. "Whoa, is it just me..." "Sonic looked at his watch. "Or is it chilidog time!?" "Sonic..." Tails interrupted. "We eat our dose of chili at three o'clock." "Exactly, and it's three!" Sonic practically shoved the watch in Tails' face. "See?" "Uh....Sonic?" Tails sweatdropped. "Yeah?" Sonic asked, still filled with excitement as his crave for a can of hot chili splattered on a hotdog and being shoved into his mouth and chewed frequently urged him to turn back to his usual stand. "That's the minute hand." Tails threw the painful, heart-breaking reality at his blue comrad. "It's twelve fifteen. It's only fifteen minutes passed lunch time." "Well I wanna chilidog anyway!" "Sonic! You just said we hadda find a Chaos Emerald, and my energy detector's readings say there's one several miles from here!" "So? If it's that close, we can come get it later!" Sonic crossed his arms. "I wanna chilidog and I want it NOW!" "But what about the Floating Island? We have to get that emerald as soon as possible."  
"D'oh man, why can't a hedgehog just live in peace?" Sonic sat on a lumpy tree root. "I hate all this 'we HAVE to do this and we HAVE to do that' mumbo jumbo. I just wanna live in freedom, not a journey full of missions and things we HAVE to do. Sure, I like adventure, but I want adventure that has options." Tails felt Sonic's pain. He himself dreamed of a life full of adventures with no worries or hassles or things that have to be done under any circumstances.  
Sonic and Tails weren't only just friends, they were partners, comrads, someone to go for help to if the other was in pain. Although Sonic would never admit his pains, Tails could sense when he was hurt or saddened. Tails, however, was different. Whenever he needed help or advice or just plain someone to talk to, he would go to Sonic. Although quite conceited and immature, Sonic would somehow always set him straight. They weren't just friends, they loved each other. Sonic would never admit it, but Tails was his whole life. He loved to watch him grow and become stronger and wiser.  
  
If anything were to happen to him, Sonic would go ballistic. Maybe even cry. It wasn't like Sonic to cry. It didn't suit his personality in any way whatsoever. Even Tails couldn't think of a way to make Sonic cry, although he never thought about it. Tails felt the same way about Sonic. He looked up to him in every way. Tails wanted to be just like him. He didn't absolutely adore chilidogs like he always mentioned, he just ate them because it's what Sonic ate. Anything Sonic liked, Tails liked too. This is why Sonic looked at Tails as a little brother or cousin or son, because of their brother-like bond. A bond they couldn't break, a bond they didn't notice.  
  
Tails sat next to Sonic. "Yeah, I kinda feel the same way too. But I thought you loved all the action? The chases, and dodging, the loops and courses and timed fates only the fastest, bluest and coolest of them all can handle without a problem?" Tails comforted him, using Sonic's own self- opinion's for him. "Yeah, I do. But I do all that stuff 'cause I choose to, and there always seem to be innocent hostages depending on me. If life was my way, there would be no bullets flying at me at all, just the wind pushin' while my feet move like sticks on a drum." Sonic looked upward while saying this, with his arms bent upward and his fists clenched, pointing upward to the tree's branches. But after realizing that what he said was just a fantasy, his hands were once again resting on his knees, and his head was facing down with his eyes closed tight. "Man, I'd like that more than anything in the world...even more than a chilidog..."  
  
"Hey, c'mon Sonic! Where's that blue loud-mouth hedgehog I grew up with!? It's not like you to look so down! You didn't have to take the task in the first place! Knuckles gave you another option! And that option was to do whatever you want! To roam freely as you want and do whatever you want!" Sonic looked at Tails, realizing where he was going with this. "Sonic, you CHOSE this path. You never HAD to do anything. Now, for all we know Knuckles might already have fallen off some mountain or drown in some lake. But if he didn't, and is still searching for his emerald, he's depending on you, along with the Floating Island, to get him that Chaos Emerald. If I know you, you wouldn't let him down for a chilidog and a half! C'mon Sonic! We need to get busy!"  
  
Sonic stood up. Tails made his point loud and clear. "Y'know what, T- 2? I like your attitude!" Sonic grabbed Tails' wrist. "Hold on to your socks, Tails! This hedgehog's hittin' warp seven!" With that, Sonic did what he did best, and was soon a mile away or more.  
  
Deep, in the depths of an unknown desert, lied a pyramid. A pyramid with frightening designs, and walls of black. Within the sand-made shelter, metal containers and machines roamed about. Lasers and cameras were hidden within every corner. And robots, designed to guard and fight, circled the area without question. Nothing more was visible, but a hidden stairway, protected by a revolving door and a security device, lied at the far end of the shelter. Down and down they went, past the ground's limits, where air was barely accessible without air vents. At the end of the flight was an electric door, made of metal that split in two when opened, then joined together once more when closed. Behind this door, evil was but one brain.  
  
"We interrupt this program for a very important news flash" The reporter on the screen said, cutting out the program which was previously playing. The viewer caressed his mustache. "Hmmm, this better be good, or I'll have that imbossil transformed into a robotic TOILET!" He yelled as he pounded on the side of his revolving chair, releasing a clanging sound that would cause one's eyes to close tightly. Robotnik grabbed the remote, ready to shut the screen off, but put it back down and rubbed his chin at the sight before him.  
  
"Just this evening," The reporter went on with a southern accent. "the National Museum of Historical Wonders went through a disturbing tragedy. A dark figure with somewhat jet-propelled footwear broke into the building, took the guards down with ease, and proceeded throughout the museum. Luckily, the only item stolen was an antique fairly known as a 'Chaos Emerald'. Fast as he was, a skilled camera man managed to catch a glimpse of the thief on video. The robber was identified as the world renouned hero, Sonic the Hedgehog. Once he left the museum, the suspect was greeted by six armed policemen and three vehicles. The suspect wasted no time to think, and took the six men out in no time at all. Now the question spreads. Is this hero with us, or against us?"  
  
As the reporter talked, scenes of the crime flashed throughout the screen. One particular section of the report featured a black hedgehog with red stripes throughout his spines. The figure looked at the screen, turned his back to it, and was long gone in the blink of an eye. Robotnik looked pleased in no way.  
  
"Ahhh, that self-centered bafoon is still alive. My theory was correct! He was still in his super form when he fell down to Earth. With the power of all seven Chaos Emeralds, a mere fall would practically tickle him like a feather. Perhaps my grandfather DID create the ultimate form of life. That MA-AD scientist!" The sinister doctor chuckled at the thought. He pushed a button on the main computer. "GUARDS! Inform the repair squad that I want the Egg Carrier fixed by tomorrow!"  
  
Robotnik sat down once again, and clenched his fist in rage. "That discrimination for a project will suffer in the palm of my hand! I, will make sure of it."  
  
"Sonic! There it is!" "Where!?" "Over there! Behind all that mud!" Tails pointed past a horrendous slosh of dirt and water. Sonic wasted no time, took a giant leap over the pool-sized puddle, and swiped the emerald in no time at all. He examined it carefully and felt it's energy surging through his arm. "Yep, this is it allright! Where'd that redheaded chum say he was headed for again?" "The Dry Lagoon. It's miles from here. It might take us two hours to get there." Tails calculated. "Not if THIS hedgehog can help it! Hold on, Tails! This hedgehog's gonna JAM!" Sonic grabbed his arm and sped off in what must have been a quarter of a second.  
  
"Hey Tails! What's the quickest route to the Lagoon place!?" Sonic yelled over the passing wind. "Right past Mete'or and six minutes passed the road leading out of it!" Tails answered, also yelling at the top of his lungs. "Six minutes!? I'll get there in three! Six is WAY too long for THIS hedgehog!" With that, Sonic increased his speed by seven percent, and disappeared into the forest.  
  
The sun was blazing onto the plain, causing the dry, hardened dirt to shine with an orange glow. Knuckles wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Ugh, this is pretty rough..." He mumbled as his own sweat mystified the back of his wrist. He walked for hours, carefully sensing the motions of the Master Emerald. He sensed it was close. A few miles at least. On and on he walked, drawing more sweat every step of the way.  
  
His throat ached from thirst, and his muscles hurt and pleaded rest, while his bones and joints refused to move as he forced himself to keep going. The air around him was motionless, warm to no end. Not one breeze crossed his path, eliminating his gliding ability to lift him into the air. The salty sweat terminated his eyes, blurring his sight and causing them to squint with agony. His lungs also screamed in pain, suffering the heat of the humid air that Knuckles was being forced to breathe. Exhausting as it was, he kept on moving, determined without question. To find the emerald was his task. Any obstacles, painful, exhausting, or dangerous as they may be, he would cross at any cost.  
  
He didn't know why he had this job, or why it was his fate. Having many chances to flee from his duty, Knuckles' heart seeked to stay. Something about the Master Emerald kept his mind wondering, seeking glorious words and explanations. Years before his time as guardian, the red echidna would gaze at the emerald, praising all it's beauty and vowing to protect it by any means necessary. In his heart, he wished to live freely, not having to worry about his fate or destiny. He wished to have no worries, doing only what he liked to do, whenever he wanted to do it. His dream however, didn't seem to be coming true, and his vow to protect his island remained in his heart and mind forever.  
Refusing to do so, Knuckles dropped on one knee, panting heavily from thirst and exhaustion. The skin on his knee burnt on the ground below, drastically giving him reason to release it from the heat's grip. But the red echidna was too tired, even to save his knee from getting burned 'till it bleeds. His mouth was drier than a hedgehog's spines, and his skin and fur were soaked in the salty depths of his heat-releasing sweat. Gathering what little energy he received from resting, Knuckles released his knee from it's burning grounds, barely managed to balance himself on his feet, and slowly started to pace away.  
Wiping the sweat from his eyes, he managed to take a glimpse at where he was going. The land seemed to meet the sky, and no sign of water was in sight. Soon before he could make an opinion, the salty ways of sweat filled his eyes once more, causing them to squint helplessly. He had no choice, but to move on.  
  
Mile after mile, Sonic and Tails covered over sixty-two feet per second, flashing trails of brilliant blue and dazzling orange as they sailed through the forest green. Tails, barely able to keep up with the air- strong hedgehog ahead of him, couldn't help but think of Knuckles and his quest. "Hey Sonic..." The young Kitsune started. "Do ya think Knuckles found his Master Emerald yet?" "I hope not!" Sonic yelled back as he picked up the pace. "Man, just imagine, me bein' out here for nothin'! That red- headed echidnerd better make use of this thing!" He held out the Chaos Emerald as he spoke, trying his best to make his point clear. "Or I'm gonna have some lockes to cut!"  
Sonic seemed in no way happy about his mission to the forest. He wished he was at the beach, lying down on his beach chair as he admired the pretty girls that crossed his path. He wished he was in the big city, wear the cars roamed and the horns honked. Wear the streets were black and the sidewalks a pale-ish peach. Or even at the park, where the benches lie and the grass was clear. He wished he was doing whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted to do it. He wished he was....free....  
It wasn't long before the familiar sights and sounds of the busy city of Mete'or surrounded the duo's senses. Sonic looked around, unsure of the quickest route to the Dry Lagoon.  
It all happened too quickly, and Sonic's mind wasn't able to keep up. Just as he was about to run off, he heard a loud man's voice. "Freeze!" It yelled, and two policemen raised their weapons behind him. They were quite a distance away, giving their hedgehog target a chance to react. "Are they talking to us?" Tails asked, confounded as of why they were being targeted. One of the men spoke into a walky-talky, and before they knew it, Sonic and Tails were being surrounded by policemen, one of them which held a microphone.  
  
"Don't move!" He spoke into it, sure enough that the hedgehog target could hear him. "Slowly and carefully place the emerald onto the ground, then take three steps back and raise your hands into the air!" The policeman spoke threateningly, ready to release a bullet at any moment. Sonic ignored him, and watched as the squad closed in on him. One of them grabbed his arm and squeezed it tight. "Hey! What gives!?" Sonic yelled out, talking to no one in general. Before he knew it, three or four cops were pulling him to the ground. "Sonic! Do something!" Tails yelled, desperately trying to fight the overwhelming men off of him. As he saw his hero disappear in the pile, he couldn't help but think it was over.  
  
Sonic, engulfed with rage, decided there was no other way. He grasped the emerald, absorbed it's power, and erected his spines. With a powerful leap, he managed to break free, cutting and brutally stabbing the policemen on top of him. He flipped in the air, ran around the pile of men around Tails and sent them soaring through the air. In the blink of an eye, he grabbed Tails' arm and sped off into the city.  
"Man!" Sonic yelled above the wind. "Ya'd think they'd at least salute me!" "Why do ya think they're chasing us, Sonic?" "I dunno, keed...but it has somethin' ta do with this emerald!" The hedgehog's eyes were fixed on the emerald. It shone its bright red color effectively, and gave his spotless glove a shimmering glow. "But why?" The young fox wondered. "Half the civilization on the planet don't even know what a Chaos Emerald is! Why would the cops be on top of us all of a sudden?" "Look Tails, as much as I'd like ta be all Sherlock Holmes-y and stuff, WE GOT SOME COPS TA DEAL WITH!" With his patience worn out and the young kid quiet, Sonic hit top speed, feet blurry and mind racing, unsure as to whether the blue and white vehicles were still at his heels.  
  
Sonic looked back. The cars were well behind him. Just a few more miles and he'll have lost them. But this wasn't the first time he was pursued by police forces. They knew he was fast, even for their motorized machines. They knew that simply chasing him would get them nowhere. He had escaped them before, and only because he was distracted by another life were they able to capture him. This time, however, they came prepared.  
  
Out of what seemed like nowhere, three more police cars came racing toward the duo in their path. Sonic timed his jump and made an enormous leap, turned himself into what looked like a rolling ball of spines, then unrolled himself just before he hit the ground, clearly passing over them and landing without a scratch. The three cars struggled to turn around, crashing into one another and causing a road block in the process. The previous cars had to circle them, giving Sonic an even better chance of getting away.  
  
"Tails! We gotta split! It's our only chance of gettin' away!" "Roger that, Sonic!" "I'll meet ya at the highway! Later!" Sonic released his grasp on Tails' wrist, and made a sharp turn at the nearest corner.  
  
Ten full minutes had passed. Two police cars remained at his heels, and Sonic was running out of corners. Sooner or later, a dead end would come, and only luck could guide him from there. He ran with all his might, feet blurring and sneakers burning, both in the same red lush. He made another turn, and frantically searched for ideas. He passed numerous places. The beauty salon.... pizzeria..... mall.... supermarket.... but so far there was nothing. Slick as he was, something struck his head. Swiftly as a cobra's bite, his neck turned and his eyes tilted to the side, practically demanding a sight worth seeing in all their green's glory. A familiar metal carrier with four wheels invaded their line of sight, and the running hedgehog made a quick, but gracious U-Turn...  
"This is Twenty-Nine to Headquarters. Target has been lost and still remains hidden, over." "What's the status?" "Target is full of energy and shows no signs of exhaustion, over." "Continue to search. Don't stop 'till every road in the city's been checked. Over and out." The policeman dropped his radio and regained control of the wheel.  
  
"COMMISIONER!" The policeman yelled into his radio, demanding contact with his commanding officer. "We've located the hedgehog! And he seems to be riding on a...a SHOPPING CART!?"  
Sonic didn't bother looking back. The sight of a blue hedgehog grinding across the street on a shopping cart was sure to amaze the cops in astonishment, and the thought of their maliculant faces caused a grin to slash upon the side of his face. He found maneuvering quite simple, left foot on the handle, putting all his body weight on that leg, while his right was stretched out onto the end, giving him a perfect position for riding. He stretched out his arms and twisted his body, hands merely open and elbows slightly bent, giving him a Trademark position and a whole new way of showing off.  
Unfortunately, to his horror, a traffic light several feet ahead of him went from green to red, and a small blue beetle stopped in it's tracks. Sonic soon saw this as an opportunity, and decided to once again, pull off a stunt and defy the laws of gravity. He pushed down on the cart with all his weight, and when the time was right, leaped into the air with the shopping cart beneath his feet. It landed on the beetle, caused a major dent in it's trunk, and used it's body as a ramp. Without warning, Sonic found himself soaring through the air, beneath all roofs but above all heads, and for some reason, to him and all who watched him fly, time seemed to slow down. He grinned with attitude, turned his hip, and span sideways in the air, shopping cart simply following his body's lead. Everything went perfect, and nobody, not even Sonic himself, could have thought of a better way to swear.  
The sun's rays added gloriously to the effect, shining on his body with a tint of yellow-ish wonder, bouncing off his blue and peach and enlightening his spines from base to tip. The green in his eyes blended in well, and the redness in his soap shoes never looked more inspiring. His spines looked brilliant, scattered across his back in an orderly fashion and claiming their places like a bunch of fleas. They remained erect, showing off their tips and glistening in the sun's light. The form his body was in represented style, and on the side of his face, a simple, cheek- splitting grin preceeded the laws of the cool and symbolized his electric attitude. There was no other way of putting it. He was just beautiful.  
Slowly, yet quickly at the same time, Sonic felt himself descending. He watched closely as the ground grew near, positioning his body and readying himself for the clash of steel and concrete. There was a loud screech, a quick bounce from the rubber wheels of the cart, and a soft, steady landing, and before the crowd could realize, the blue blur was off once again.  
Fast and glorious as he was, the police car behind him was also moving at a descent speed, tailing the blue hedgehog no matter where he turned. The police officer at the passenger seat viewed an opportunity, and lowered his window to take a shot. He leaned his head out slightly, took aim at the victim's hand, and released a bullet from his trigger's nozzle. Sonic felt a hard strike on his wrist, and the pain in his throbbing hand caused him to release the emerald that was in his grasp. The shock caused him to lose his balance, and with a loud, agonizing scream, both he and his metallic ride fell to their backs and sides.  
He winced hard, got on all fours, eyed the emerald, and sought to grab it. But it was too late, the chasing car was too close, and he had no choice but to run off without it. Sonic hated himself for failing his mission, but he had bigger things to worry about. Like Tails...  
He made one sharp turn after the other, trying his hardest to lose the cars. Once he even found himself scaling across a red brick wall, and even running through one.  
Sonic's ears started to quiver, there was a sound invading their drums from up above. His neck sprang back and his face looked up, causing a chopper to invade the sight his eyes provided him. Realizing it was tailing him, he faced forward once again to watch his progress, and made a quick turn, and then another. Using gut instinct, he stopped short, for there was a wall of steel blocking his path. He looked back on instinct, and at the same moment, six to seven cars blocked his entrance to the alley. He got into position and was ready to charge, but then one more thing caught his eye...  
Behind the bars behind the first car's glass, an orange, fluffy face with blue eyes stared helplessly at his own. Six men slowly made their way around him, and their sudden spring to attack him caused the blue hero to leap upward on pure instinct, having them land in a pile of men. He descended on the small hill's top left-foot first, then made at spinning leap away from them. It seemed he had it planned. He would just grab Tails and run! But even HE wasn't fast enough to outrun the drawing of a weapon...  
Two to three guns were pointing at his comrads face, and Tails' eyes signed of pure terror. This caused Sonic to think twice, and do something even the greatest of all his enemies' punches couldn't do...make him surrender. He slowly stood up straight and lifted his arms, allowing the now standing policemen behind him to grab his arms and cuff his hands together. He glared at the men with the guns evilly, and sighed in sorrow as he let the cops take control of him. 


	3. The Feeling of Despair

Chapter Three: The Feeling of Despair  
  
The scent of fresh lavender and roses was in the air......the taste of fresh air circulated his mouth......the sound of water hitting water sounded in the near distance..... and as the feeling of dampness took over his nerves, light slowly started to reach the surface of his eyes.....  
Knuckles lifted himself off the soft cushioning under his back and let out a small moan, grasping the towel that lay on his head. His whole body had a burning itch to it, his front half more than his back, but he ignored the pain for now. He winced hard, and slowly started to open release his eyes from their overlapping lids. Light shone heavily on them, causing them to shut tightly in response. But little by little, he started to gain his senses.  
As his vision became clear, logs of brown stacked atop each other became sighted. Flower pots and two small wooden tables filled the area. Cushions of green, burgundy, and flowery designs rested on every chair in the area, which were neatly placed in small corners and next to a long, round table with plastic matts awaiting bowls and dishes resting neatly in front of the chairs beside it. Carpets were laying on all different spots. In front of the couch on which Knuckles lay, under each table, and a small one in front of the entrance door. Beyond the tables and beyond the chairs, a blazing fire was set under a wall of carefully paved bricks. "Where am I?" He moaned softly to himself. The place he was in was so clean...so peaceful....It was almost like.....a home?  
A small, threatening growl caught the echidna's ears, and all he could define as it's owner was a small brown blur with four legs that ran toward and out a small built-in door within the door that sealed the area's exit. Knuckles tried to get up, but an instant shred of pain steamed in his knees as soon as he tried to do so. Cringing and looking down, he realized his knees were heavily covered in bandages. He reached for them quickly, and rested a gloved hand on the left wound. "Ah-ah-ah! No peeking!" exclaimed a voice that was all too familiar to the echidna, yet somehow, it was a new voice at the same time...  
Knuckles guided his eyes toward the matt at the entrance, where a pair of white and blue sneakers rested above the fabric. In their grasp stood a pair of legs covered in white fur, which were joined by a pair of short blue jean shorts. He quickly made his way to the face, skimming the peach belly and light blue top quickly while he was at it. "You wouldn't wanna infect those burns, now!" The bat girl in front of him gave a slight wink and raised two fingers on one semi-raised hand while the other rested on her waist. Knuckles realized who it was, and for the first time in a long while, he was caught off guard. "R-Rouge?....."  
The brown blur with four legs was standing at her heal. It let out a small Meow, and allowed itself to be carried. "The one and only!" She patted the cat softly as it layed on her arm, stroking it from ear to base. "Sorry if my friend here gave you a startle. Her job was to watch over you."  
The red echidna finally quit staring. "Why am I here!? Is this some kind of guard-nap or something!?" He tensed his body for a fight, but he kept his hands on the couch below him anyway. "Sheesh, is that any way to treat a lady!? Particularly one who just saved your life!? I didn't HAVE to save you y'know. I could've left you in that dessert to dehydrate, but instead I was nice and decided to pick you up." She placed the Siamese cat on the ground, where it took off for a rug to lay on. "Picked me up? From where!?" "Why, the dessert of coarse. You were just lying there in a puddle of your own drying sweat, unconscious from the heat. Your back was sunburnt 'till it steamed, and your knees were burnt so bad your fur fell off. A little more and your bones would've been burned as well. Same goes for your elbows." Knuckles raised both his arms to glance at his elbows, which were also covered in think white bandages. He then rested his face on one of his palms, his large white gloves covering the entire mid-section of his head. A small moan was all he could release, as the stinging itchfull burn of his entire body came back to taunt him. "Here." Said Rouge. "This'll keep you hydrated." She handed him a glass of water, then went to the fireplace to add some more wood.  
Knuckles gulped the freshness little by little, the first cool sensation to enter his body aside from the wet rag of a cloth that rested on his head a few moments earlier. He was too weak to stand, barely being able to move without some part of his body being stung viciously while rubbing against the soft couch's leather. Rouge walked up to him and grabbed his arm. "Come", she commanded. Knuckles let out a small, manly groan of pain and thrust his arm away from her, her simple touch causing him great amounts of pain. "Oh come on! You weren't nearly as much of a wimp the last time we met! I always thought there was a cry-baby within that big buff exterior!" She grabbed his arm once again and pulled, causing him to stand on his weak knees while he winced hard in pain. She quickly placed his arm around her and slowly guided him out the door.  
"My gosh! You're just as hot as you were when I found you! You haven't cooled off at all!" A small moan of pure weakness was his reply, and even though he was barely making steps, the flirty bat could still feel all the muscle and man power the red body next to her contained. She could feel the strength in his arm, the intensity of his weight, and the fierceness in his legs, arms, fists, chest, neck, stomach, and feet. It took her time, but she finally managed to get him to the small lake outside her hut. The sound of water hitting water filled the blind echidna's ears, and the smell of green grass and nature filled his nose and lungs. She stepped into the water until it reached the top of her ankles, and gently started to lay him on his back.  
"W-what're you doing?" He barely managed to ask. "Isn't it obvious? Resting in this fresh, cold water'll cool you off as well as heal your burns. Mystical in your mind, but common sense in mine!" Knuckles hadn't opened his eyes since she layed him down. He obviously was in no condition to deal with her sarcastic remarks, but he showed every sign of being awake. "Comfy?" she asked. "Good! Cause you MIGHT have to stay like this for awhile!" A sense of mockery was still in her voice as always. "Have a good rest, my dear echidna." She turned away and started to pace. "By the way...." She turned slightly. Knuckles opened his eyes and looked up at her. Don't mind the twenty-pound goldfish. They don't bite..." She winked. "Often!" A slight, devilish smirk crossed the side of her face, and she continued walking away as the severely burned echidna resumed his position with his closed eyes...  
  
A loud, agonizing scream was heard within the prison cells, followed by the loud thrashing of fist pounding into solid metal. Pants and wheezes and cries of strength being built for destructive causes filled the room, and echoed from cell to cell with endless hints of pain and fear. Some would even think it was torture...  
"Sonic! Calm down! There's no way we're breaking through those bars!" Tails tried to reason, but Sonic continued to pounce from wall to wall, mustering up all the strength his thin peach arms could muster to break through the steal walls. He leaped from wall to wall, giving each one a loud, hard thrust that hurt his hands as he landed on them and leaped off short after. Tails just watched in astonishment.  
The helpless hedgehog let out another loud screech of terror, filling the prison walls with nothing but echoes of loud seemic torture. He grabbed two bars and pulled on them with all his might, but they still didn't budge. Tails could see the sweat and the muscles flexing beneath his fur, and it only brought his fear and curiosity to a higher level. Not to mention all the worry...  
"Sonic! What's wrong with you!?" Sonic turned around. Tails had NEVER raised his voice to him like that. Never had Sonic gone so low that Tails would have to yell at him. But as the blue hedgehog turned to face him, Tails saw something even his wildest dreams couldn't bring to his mind....  
"Tears!?" Tails thought to himself. "Sonic.....Sonic's CRYING!?" The hero's green pupils were surrounded in shades of red lines and visual plates of pink-ish red. From their bases, streams and streams of tears flowed down his face faster than chili down his throat, and the young fox's eyes grew wide at the sight. NEVER had he EVER seen Sonic cry. NEVER has Sonic looked so helpless and down. He was ravenous...he was mental...he was TRAPPED. Trapped from the freedom he loved so much. Suddenly, everything he loved except Tails was taken away from him. He couldn't run, he couldn't jump, he couldn't leap, dive, spin, climb, or even twirl. The walls surrounding him were close, the floor and ceiling seemed to get closer and closer every time they looked, and for the first time in his life, Sonic was helpless and out of hope.  
The fact that he's been encapsulated struck him in the heart. Him, Sonic the Hedgehog, the 'One who could not be Caught' was over-powered and deceived by normal, slow-going people. He could no longer show off, he could no longer call himself super, and everything his ego stood for had dropped. His heart pounded, his tears dripped, and the sweat that filled his forehead started to make him wince. He felt weak, worthless....scared....  
Sonic tried pounding the wall behind Tails one last time, only to leap off it and land on his feet. "Sonic! Stop!" Tails tried once more, but failed...only in a different manner....Sonic went down on all fours, erected his spines, and pointed them in ALL directions. He hid his limbs and ducked his head beneath his body, making himself out to be a big ball of spines. He stood still, motionless, and Tails was astounded as ever.  
  
He sighed. Tails knew Sonic was scared, but the fact that he's never seen him do this struck him with confusion. He had no clue as to what was going on, and slowly, he raised his hand forward to touch Sonic's spine. He looked down. He was desperate to make his best friend feel better, to calm him down and reassure him that everything was bound to be okay. But instead, he got a taste of a hedgehog's wrath...  
"Sonic...I-YOWCH!!!" He grasped his hand HARD as splitting pain surged throughout his entire arm. What had just happened caught him TOTALLY off guard! As soon as his fingers made contact with Sonic's spines, the spiked rodent made a huge thrust into the air, causing one of his spines to split right through Tails' glove. He made loud, threateningly agonizing puffing noises under his armored back, and Tails could see his lungs move up and down under his spines and skin with each puff as he did so. The body before him trembled, and then tried it's best to stay still again. Tails winced hard as the pain started to calm on his hand. Then he sat down on the floor and burried his face in his hands.  
Sonic had just struck him....Sonic had NEVER struck Tails before...never has he hurt him on purpose...Why was he so paranoid? So nervous? Could it be because...? Tails looked around. They were in a small compartment...not once had he EVER seen Sonic in a house or apartment or hut for a very long time...he was always outside, in the open, where he was free...not even a hotel room when it was rainy or snowing....Could his blue hero possibly be....claustrophobic?  
It made perfect sense! His love for freedom and peace would certainly make him hate imprisonment more than anything in the world! All his life, all his happy days filled with fun and excitement, all took place in the outdoors, where he was free! Maybe that's why he fights so hard...his love for freedom and peace overwhelms ALL his big ego trips and hatred for tasks. That explains why he actually GOES on adventures in the first place instead of just running around freely all day...he'd hate to see the world he loves so much get taken away from him! Nonetheless see the innocent suffer...Tails began to think more, and somehow, managed to let out a small, happy smile. "I guess he does have a heart of gold after all..."  
Tails just sat there...in his prison...with his hero...filled with hope...  
  
"WHAT!? No way!" the young girl exclaimed in her mind. "Sonic would NEVER do a thing like that!" She watched attentively at the TV screen behind the glass, a small croud watching with her from behind. "Ohhh, I hope he's okay!" She had her hands clasped together and pressed them upon her bossom, her green, innocent eyes gleaming with hope and worry. "How?....how could this ever happen?"  
The sun was going down again, and a dark shade of pink covered the sky above the now-quiet city of Mete'or. The beach was still, motionless, the entire city soundless except for a few honks from distant cars. It was as if the world had suddenly become hushed, quiet, with nothing but a few breazes to represent low whispers. Rarely was the city this peaceful and relaxed, and the people living in it were as quiet as sleeping sloths. Amy, however, had her full attention focused on the screen before her, where a female reporter with thick eyeglasses gave her the story that would torture her nightmares.  
She watched with horror as a picture of her blue savior in his prison cell was presented. She nearly cried at the sight. Everything, all of her thoughts and feelings for Sonic were being tested at this moment. She believed....no, she KNEW, with all her heart, that Sonic would NEVER pull off such a horrible stunt. He was too kind, too heroic....too glorious, to be able to do such a thing as stealing a priceless artifact from a museum...No, not Sonic. Not HER Sonic.  
Everything she loved about him was based on his heroic attitude. To think that he could do something as bad as that....it overwhelmed her with disbelief. "Sonic...MY Sonic is the sweetest, most caring being I've ever come across. Sure, he isn't too nice to me, but that's only because I pressure him with my love and affections for him....and besides, whenever I'm in danger, he always risks his life to come and rescue me..." More thoughts raced through her mind, so much so that she had stopped listening to the broadcast and was engulfed in her own train of thought..."It just couldn't have been him. It just COULDN'T!!!"  
When the newsflash was over, the small crowd of five that was watching it turned and parted in their own directions. All except Amy, who stood standing in thought, mesmerized by what she had just seen. She fell to her knees. "No way. Not Sonic..."  
"But what if he actually di-.........no.....that just CAN'T be it!" Tears started to run down her face. "If only I could....help him..." She sniffled inbetween her words. "But how....? What could I possibly do?" She wiped one of her tears away. "Well, it's risky, but I could still try....anything for Sonic...anything for MY Sonic..."  
She stood up, and walked away into the night.  
  
Meanwhile, back in the safety of his undersand layer, Dr. Robotnik, just like Sonic's pink admirer, had just finished watching the broadcast about his blue combatant's capture. A wicked, frightening, and disgusting version of a smile seamed to creap across his revolting excuse for a face. "So...the hedgehog has once AGAIN been framed by that pathetic piece of laboratory garbage they call Shadow....hmmm...." The scientist was deep in thought. "In this case, I might as well destroy that prison before he finds a way to escape!" He stood up from his metallic throne in a hurry. "But then again....what if I could capture him? Then I can torture him 'till he nears his death, and then roboticize him before his life is ended..." His hand was once again on his chin. "GUARDS! Prepare the Egg Walker!..." A dark, evil sort of grin crept to each side of his face. "We're going to have some funnnn..."  
  
A cool sensation caused a bone-chilling shiver to cross his spine, then scattered itself around his body. This caused his eyes to open slowly, weakly, just enough to let him realize where he was and to remember how he got there. Painful and stinging as it was, he managed to overcome the pain, and Knuckles forced himself to sit upright.  
He raised his left hand to his face, which he used to rub his now- closed eyes and forehead, while the other lay steadily beneath the water and on the ground, preventing him from tilting to his side. As he rubbed his eyes and gave a soft moan, his right leg tilted at the knee, moving it above the water, while his other leg remained motionless beneath the rippling, now cold water. Not until he completely gathered his senses and managed to ignore the burning pain throughout his body did he start to look around. Now it was night, and a full moon shown brightly above his head.  
There were stars around it. Shiny, clear-blue, twinkling, bright stars. They surrounded the dark black sky in an unrecognizable pattern. As his head turned swiftly to each side of him, he clenched his fists and shut his eyes tight before he forced himself to stand. His legs were wobbly at first, from both the cold within them and the exhaustion they were filled with, but his body was accustomed to being tired, and he walked out the lake with stiff, strong steps.  
The wet echidna looked around as globs of cold water dripped frantically from his lockes, gloves, and chin. There was no light in the cabin, and the sent of another flesh and blood life form was nowhere near his presence. Nothing but darkness....with shades of green and white.....and brown and blue....was visible to his calm-purple eyes. His ears caught nothing but the sound of crickets, and the crashing of the waterfall.........it was quiet....too quiet...  
The burned guardian turned around, and faced his head toward the mysterious moon. Then, with the corner of his eye, a glimpse of yellow light was brought to his attention. He turned his head toward it, and saw that it was atop a small, yet sightful hill. It was within walking distance, but a simple glide would take him only seconds. Looking toward the starry sky with the light in front of it, he walked toward a large, brown, oval-shaped boulder with countless dents upon its surface. Being tall enough to look beyond it while he was standing, he placed one foot on it's slanted side and leaned against it, relaxing his leg into an angled position and resting his arms side-by-side atop his knee. His eyes were still blurry from the weakness of his body, and he strained them to see the distant light more clearly.  
As he placed a flat hand above his eyes to focus his sight, a fragile, long, cool breeze passed him by, and his fur and lockes trailed in it's path, flapping and swishing rapidly in the wind. When it calmed down, they slowly, yet steadily, placed themselves back in their original position, giving small hints that another breeze was about to pass. Knuckles thought about gliding, but he was too dizzy to keep his body steady, and so, he began to walk.  
The road was grassy but rough, and rocky yet smooth. He followed no trail, just a straight mental line toward the lighted hill. His dizziness continually got the best of him, and he had to slow his pace down more than once so he can gain his focus and keep on going. His legs were also in no position to walk up a steep hill, but he continued moving, not dropping a single ounce of sweat.  
"It's about time you got here, those strong legs of yours don't seem to work very well!" The sitting bat said in a taunting tone. The top of the hill was just as Knuckles expected. Just a small table, two chairs, a lava lamp, and a wooden ceiling to protect them from rain. He didn't bother responding, just gasped a few breaths and stood upright. "First thing's first. Where's the Master Emerald!?"  
"Emerald? Why? I haven't collected any of those in months!" Rouge answered with a devious smile, crossing one leg over the other while she sat and posing feminishly with her hands and face. "I know you took it! I want it back! NOW!" The emerald's guardian remained standing upright, looking down upon the seemingly innocent ex-spy.  
"Now now, Big Boy, it's gonna be kinda hard to attack me on an empty stomach. Have some salad! It has tomatoes, which kinda remind me of you!" Rouge slided a large wooden bowl full of lettuce, tomatoes, and a bunch of other vegetables Knuckles had no time to identify. "This isn't a game, Rouge! Give me back my emerald, or you'll have a bloody price to pay!" Rouge rolled her eyes. "Ahhh, boys, so stubborn yet so demanding..." Knuckles just watched her as she taunted him some more. "...tell you what! How about we make a deal..." The echidna's left eyebrow raised. "If you sit down and have some salad, I'll tell you everything I know." She smiled another one of her usual mixtures of grins and smiles, and placed the top of her hand under her chin as she sat with one leg over the other. "This is NO TIME for one of your games, ROUGE!!!" He stood in a fighting position and made a sudden strike. He stretched his right arm strongly in front of him while pulling back with the other, then made a bow-and-arrow motion toward the bat-girl's face. Rouge simply waited for the right time, and calmly pushed the fist toward the side when it was inches away from her face. Knuckles' body turned slightly, just enough to have the would-be victim stare him in the chest, and his previous forward motion caused his body to bend and pose them face to face. He made a sudden gasp in surprise and confusion. "Now now, you wouldn't wanna hurt those bones!" Rouge calmly said in the same fake-mother voice as before. "You'll have to think wisely, now. You can either go hungry and try to find your emerald on an empty stomach with absolutely no information, or you can sit down, have a meal, and listen to what I have to say. In the end, you'll be strong again, and have a better chance of retrieving your little green gem. Now you tell ME which one's the better outcome!"  
Knuckles had had it. Her little taunting voice and calm attitude was angering him to the max. But his stubbornness took the better of him, and the sake of his beloved island came to mind. He clenched his fists and teeth, gave her a nasty, threatening look, and annoyingly pulled his chair out from under the table and sat down. "Talk! I don't have time for any bull!" "Ah-ah-ah! What did I tell you before, Knuxy-Wuxy, a good meal gets you good stories!" She was doing it again, and Knuckles' arms started to tingle in rage. Too much more of this and he would strike her for sure. However, any information on the Master Emerald's whereabouts was worth holding back the punch. He pulled the bowl toward him, grabbed the wooden fork beside it, and stuck it into a piece of lettuce, hard enough to hear a satisfying crunch. He looked down upon the bowl, but didn't stick any of it's contents in his mouth. He looked up at the bat in front of him and glared at her. "Well? You'd better eat up, or you won't get any in- foeeeee...." This time her taunting accent didn't affect him, and he pushed the bowl half-way across the small wooden table. "Pfft! How smart do you think you are?" "Why Knuckles, what ARE you talking about?" Her little act was starting to get to him again. "You're being WAY too nice! What's the deal here!? There's a catch to this deal and you know it!" Knuckles placed both his hands flat on the table with his elbows pointing upward, putting himself in a position to stand up. "Now now! You won't know until you eat up!" "Sorry, I don't accept food from my enemies. The old poison trick lost it's touch YEARS ago!" Knuckles stood glaring, about ready to stand and strike, as Rouge tried her best to maintain her calm emotional state.  
She rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. "You boys can be such nitwits. Fine, suit yourself, just don't come crawling back later saying that you're hungry. I only make three meals a day and I intend to keep it that way!" Her little act was still going on, and Knuckles wondered if it was really an act or it was just the way she talked. Besides, it wasn't really the talking that tested his rage, it was the fact that she remained so calm while his island remained in turmoil. "Don't worry about that! I don't intend on staying very long." Knuckles continued to glare, and she rolled her eyes once more before she continued talking.  
"Well, if you MUST know, I don't have your Emerald, nore did I steal it in the first place." "You lie! I saw the footprints from your boots, and they ended right in the middle of a field! YOU took the emerald and glided away with it!" "Actually, that' just all coincidence. I haven't been on your island ever since that first day we met." "And might I remind you that you were there that day to STEAL the emerald!!!???" "That was once, what makes you think I'd do it again? And besides, I gave you back those pieces of it you wanted when we were up in space." "Yeah, which was AFTER I saved your life! You've still given me no reason to believe you didn't try and do it again!"  
"Oh dear, dear Knuckles....can't you see? If it was me who stole your diamond, why would I be here and not out selling it or chopping it to pieces to wear as a pair of earrings?" Rouge rolled her eyes again, and kept them looking away from the echidna before her. "You're a spy! Who knows what you could've done with it!" Knuckles' blood was REALLY getting hot under his skin, and if he didn't hear something he would WANT to hear within the next few seconds, he would definitely throw some fists. He only waited for what she said next...  
"Well, anyway, if you'd LET me get back to my story, I as an ex- government spy..." "EX!? You mean you're not a spy anymore!?" "For your information, NO, I'm NOT!!! Now please, let me continue!" Knuckles had his doubts, but let her talk anyway. "I as an ex-spy, still get the news on important events and up-coming disasters. And word has it, the greaceball you call Eggman is rebuilding the ship he once called, the 'Death Egg'..." "THE DEATH EGG!!!??? NO WAY!!! Sonic and I destroyed that thing YEARS AGO!!! And it took us every ounce of hope and sweat we had to do it!!!" Knuckles exclaimed in a rage. "Well, that's the word that's out." Rouge still had her arms folded with her eyes looking away from Knuckles. "Now I KNOW you're lieing!!! Robotnik no longer has the POWER, or the countless SUPPLIES needed to restore that ship!!!" This time Rouge stood up and looked him face-to-face. "Knuckles, listen to me before you judge my words! Is it not OBVIOUS enough for you to figure out!!!??? At the end of that whole Shadow incident, we left the Space Colony 'Ark' just floating up in space with no purpose whatsoever!!! Don't you think Robotstick or whatever his name is has the wits to use the entire Ark itself to rebuild the Death Egg!!?? After all, it's pretty much HIS passed-down property, not that it matters anyway! His grandfather had it built so he could work on Project Shadow, and Rostocknik could've taken his grandfather's colony after the incident was declared over and used it's body especially for rebuilding the Death Egg!!! Only now, it'll be even STRONGER, since the Space Colony 'Ark' is equipped with none other than, THE ECLIPSE CANNON!!!!!"  
  
Knuckles stopped glaring and just looked at her with an astonished, confused face. If this was true, Robotnik could actually end up destroying the world as he always dreamed of doing...  
  
"Oh, and in case you haven't figured it out yet....HE MIGHT WANNA USE THE MASTER EMERALD TO POWER HIS SHIP!!!!!!!!" She sat back down and took a breather. Sighing heavily, she crossed her legs and arms once more, and looked at Knuckles with a kind of 'NOW what do you have to say!?' expression. Knuckles clasped one fist into the palm of his other hand, and cracked his knuckles in thought. "This is all too much to handle...I'd better warn the others, FAST!" He turned around to run, but stopped suddenly and turned his head toward Rouge. "Waitaminute..." He turned his body completely around to face her, and pointed one of his gloved hands toward her face. "What now?" She said aggressively. "How do I know I can trust you? How do I know this isn't just a big pile o'..." "Because I saved your life and healed your wounds? I didn't HAVE to do that y'know." She shaked the one leg that was on top of the other in a motion that revealed she was trying to control her emotions, and her wings opened and spread half way over and over as she did so. "Okay, in thanks to your rescuing me, I'll mark you with my trust. But if this is just a big scam, expect me back here. Soon!" Knuckles turned to glide, and when he was about to take off, Rouge stopped him with her words.  
"Well wait!!!" She yelled out to him while leaning on the table and reaching her arm for him. "What?!" He threw back as he kept his back toward her and turned his head to look at her face. His lockes swung loosely as he did so, and Rouge couldn't help but notice them swing. "I'm not a nurse or anything, but even little ol' bats like me say it isn't good to go on an adventure to save the world on an empty stomach. Won't you have a bite?" She was back to her old, taunting voice. " I told you, I don't accept food from--" "Enemies? Well, let's think about that for a minute. I saved your life, bandaged your wounds, and just told you top government information that could lead you to saving the world AND the island you cherish so much and in addition, decided to make you a little salad for your own well being. Something tells me I'm not your enemy anymorrrre..." Knuckles could literally see the gleeful shine to her excited face, and couldn't help but realize she was right. "Listen, I understand where you're coming from, but I don't have time to--" "Eat a strong, healthy meal? I think not! If you eat, you'll be at your best! And you'll have a better chance at saving your island!" Knuckles looked toward the ground. "So, what do you say, Big Boy? Are we gonna eat our veggies?" The hungry echidna sighed. "O-kay...but this HAS to be quick! I have to go warn--" "Yeah yeah enough of that! Sit!" Knuckles hesitated, but then turned around and sat on the chair across from Rouge. He took one small bite of the salad, then another, then another, and before he knew it, he was scarfing it down ravenously.  
Even though he held his fork the wrong way, Rouge couldn't help but admire his arm as it's muscles flexed and unflexed as his joints did their work and got his hand from the bowl to his mouth and his mouth to the bowl. His arm connected to his shoulder, which connected to his massive neck. It seemed as though it was as wide as three of the wooden fork he was shoving in and out of his mouth. But connected to his neck, was his massive version of a chest. Even though it didn't seem to take up as much space as it actually did, the muscles that made it up were humungous in size! She couldn't help but admire him, his eyes, his lockes...his serious face...but even though she would've LOVED to continue staring, she had to break the silence before he noticed it.  
"My my, so demanding yet so lacked in manners..." Rouge said as she started to shake her leg again. Her arms were still folded, only this time on her lap. Knuckles didn't reply, he was almost done with his meal. "Didn't your mamma ever teach you to eat properly in front of a lady?" "No, I was raised by my father, who also ate the same way I do." Knuckles replied inbetween a fork of tomato. "What happened to your mother?" "I don't wanna talk about it." He stated right before he shoved a fork-full of food in his mouth again. "Oh....well, what have you done since we left the Space Colony 'Ark'? You wouldn't happen to have a...girlfriend, would you?" She asked in another taunting voice. "No. Don't have time for girls. You?" "No...but that Sonic character is kinda cute. His skinny yet athletic body makes him look SOOO sexy..." She stated while closing her eyes halfway and grinning at the now full echidna. Knuckles shrugged this statement off, and dropped the fork into the bowl as he took his last gulp and finished his meal. He looked up at her and grinned. I'll be sure to tell him he's got an admirer. However, I'm not sure he's too fond of government spies. He'd usually prefer the job to be done as fast as possible instead of taking his time and using all that equipment." "Aww, so you're saying he wouldn't like me?" "Nah, not the Sonic I know and barely like." "Really? Well..." She looked up at him with sinful eyes. "Why wouldn't he like me? Am I not a pretty girl?" Knuckles thought for a second about how to answer this question, and soon found himself staring at the table. "Well?"  
  
She stood staring at him with her stomach halfway leaned on the table and her chin resting on the top of her joining hands. As he stared at the table, something about her eyes...the way he sensed she was looking at him...caused him to tilt his head upward and look into them. They were green....a fascinating green that he couldn't help but stare at...almost like the color of the Master Emerald he protected so fiercely... Before he lost himself in a trance, he stood up and motioned toward the sky. "I...I have to go now..." "Where are you gonna head to after this?" "I....I don't know...I told Sonic to meet me here when he finds a Chaos Emerald..." "Well then, shouldn't you wait for him? He'd be mighty disappointed if he had to run through a seventy mile desert for nothing..." "But what about the Master Emerald? I HAVE to find it!" "Well, I'm gonna take my best guess now, and I'd say you want him to bring you a chaos emerald so you can use it's link with YOUR Emerald to your advantage." "How did you know abou--" "You told me about it when I tried to steal it last time!" "Oh....right...well, I can't just mope around here and wait for him, I have to test my luck at finding it!" "Knuckles, it could be anywhere in the entire planet! And I as a government spy who's searched for jewels all around the world should know, it's a really big world out there, and it's gonna be MIGHTY hard to find a treasure with no known whereabouts...." So you're saying I should just wait?" "Why shouldn't you? After all, you STILL have to heal those burns up!" Knuckles hadn't thought about his burned body since they started their argument, and now that it came to his attention, the cool air around him caused the burned skin to dry up and itch. So much so that he almost couldn't resist but to start scratching. He was smarter than that though, as his father once told him, "Don't scratch! It'll only make it worse!"  
  
"Look, Rouge, I don't know whether I'm gonna stay for long or not, but for now, I'm gonna head back to the waterfall..." "Suit yourself. My casa es tu casa. Did I say that right?" "Don't know. See ya later." "Bye." "And Rouge?" "Yes?" I'm sorry for yelling at you...my island means more to me than you'll ever know." "I've heard that before! Apology accepted, now go freeze in cold water while I clean all this up." He turned around after hearing this, and started to walk toward the edge of the hill. "Oh, and by the way..." The ex-spy stopped him once more. "Word also has it he's rebuilding something called the Egg Carrier. Does that ring any bells?" A grumble was his reply, and with that, Knuckles took off, and since his senses were back to him since he ate, this time, he glided.  
  
Not too far from the seductive bat's home, a shadowy figure scaled a pyramid in the darkness of the night, using the light from his jet- propelled footwear to guide him with sight. "This is it..." He thought to himself as he reached the pointed top and stood on it. "The pyramid where my releaser hid his underground layer, and from the small vibrations I can feel underneath, it's still working as his hideout..."  
He stared up at the starry night sky, and started to remember how he had once looked down upon the Earth the same way. He remembered how he and Maria would stare at the blue, brown, white and green swirls that covered the large blue ball Professor Gerald called 'Earth'. "Shadow, have you ever wondered what it would be like to live there?" He remembered her sweet, soothing words as they escaped her mouth and recorded themselves in his ever-lasting memory. "Huh? As simple as your question is, I don't understand." He replied with confusion, yet still remained with a serious face as he looked at her's. "Earth. The planet. I've always dreamed of going down there and living with people." She explained. "But there are people here on the 'Ark'." "Yes, you're right, Shadow, there are people here on the 'Ark', but they all seem to have nothing on their minds but science. They aren't like regular people, who talk and play and have fun." "Fun? What's that? I have no knowledge of that word." "Fun? Well, fun is....I can't explain it. I barely ever have any of it here. This place is so locked up and contained. I wish to feel the wind as I run and play in it, and feel what it's like to swim and roll on the green of the grass. Shadow, let's make a vow to go there one day." "I've always wondered why I'm here..." "Shadow, what do you mean?" "What is my reason for being? There must have been a reason as to why I was created....maybe if I go down there, I'll find the answers I seek..." "Will you go down there with me, Shadow? So we can find those answers together?" "Of coarse, Maria. I'll stay by your side as long as we live. We'll always be companions." "Mmm..." She nodded her head, and Shadow's little memory flash vanished into thin air.  
"Oh Maria..." He whispered in a quiet, longing voice. "How we've always dreamed of being on this Earth...yet now that I'm here, I'll give anything to be on the 'Ark' with you once more..." Shadow closed his eyes in a soft, calming way, and tilted his head toward the sand beneath the pyramid at which he stood, causing his tilted spines to face upward toward the blue night sky. "Maria, I assure you, you would've been happy here....but my life means nothing without you, and I have not yet found those answers I told you I seek, and I cannot be happy myself without you. However, now that I've fulfilled my promise to you, I still have to complete one task that's been stranded in my mind and heart, if I was even created with one. I MUST find the pathetic human who did this to you and gather my revenge. It's all I have left, for you, and for me. Forgive me Maria, but I MUST complete this quest, and when I do, I'll continue searching for my answers. Who knows? Maybe I'll even find them on my way. Even though I may never see you again, I will ALWAYS remember you, and live fulfilling your once thriving wishes. Goodbye once again, my friend...."  
"My releaser and creator's grandchild, Dr. Robotnik, may be right beneath my sneakered feet. But that means no matter to me, as all I need to find my answers, is this..." He stared at the green, glowing gem he helled in his right hand. It shone brightly in the darkness, and shone it's light upon the entire pyramid, giving it an eerie kind of glow. "I WILL find my answers, and the first place I'll check, will be where I was first created." He swished the emerald in front of him, positioned his body in a certain way, and yelled out the certain words that made it trigger. "Chaos...CONTROL!!!" A bright, flashy light surrounded him, and he disappeared without a trace.  
  
"Come on, Sonic, it's gonna be okay! You're this planet's greatest hero! They'll give you a chance to explain!..." The hopeless fox tried to sooth his balled-up friend with his calm words, trying his best not to accidentally rub by him or somehow find himself making physical contact with him within the small, narrow cell they were in. The blue hedgehog's lungs could be seen pumping oxygen in and out through his spined skin as he huffed and puffed quietly, making Tails all the more nervous to be in his presence.  
"Sonic...this isn't like you...losing all hope within such a short period of time...in any other situation, you'd probably be cracking jokes and showing off right now..." Just like Amy, Tails' opinion on his super- sonic hero were being tested at this moment. He couldn't blame him, however. After all, Sonic WAS afraid of water, and that's because there's no way he could run on it, and as he and the rest of the world knows, he would be devastated, contorted, and vulnerable, if he couldn't run. Without his speed, there would be no ego. Without his ego, there would be no Sonic. His speed meant everything to him, and if it was taken away....even Tails couldn't think of what his life would lead to. If only he could find a way to get him out....  
"Hey! Stop! What're you doing! Put your hands up--Ugh!!" Tails sprang upward at the sound of a man shouting toward someone in warning, then the sound of a hitten head, and the thud of a body hitting the ground. As he listened closely and attentively, he could almost here the sounds of...keys!? The sounds of loud clacking noises filled the entrance to the narrow room of cells, and as the door was pushed open, an innocent looking pink hedgehog in a red and white dress and boots jogged into the room.  
"AMY!!!" What're YOU doing he--" "SHHH!!!" Tails was interrupted rudely. "Be quiet!" She whispered in response. "You don't want someone to hear you, do you!?" Tails simply nodded his head in agreement, and store at her with his big blue eyes. "Oh dear...how am I supposed to open this lock with so many keys to choose from?" She said worriedly. Even though she was certainly almost hopeless, she wouldn't give in now, and started with the first key on the chain.  
Sonic's curiosity got the best of him, and he slowly, steadily, and carefully, lifted his head up to see what was going on. His spines were so scattered atop of him that Amy could only barely see the green-ness in his eyes, and the blackness inbetween. She suddenly stopped fiddling with the lock, dropped the keys to the floor, and looked deep into Sonic with teary eyes. She was frozen at this point, just staring at her beloved savior, ready to plop down and cry for him at any given second. Tails noticed this, and pushed her hand away while picking up the keys and blindly trying to open the lock for her.  
Sonic store back at her with his sharp, dangerous spines still covering his body completely. Only the tip of his nose was completely visible, and even that was giving out threatening glances by the way it breathed in and out as quickly as it did. After a few seconds of this, Sonic hid his head beneath him again, and Amy could see nothing but numerous spines pointed out in all directions, including at her.  
"Come on, Amy. Sonic needs you right now, and so do I." Tails saw the effect that Sonic's current state was putting her in, and tried to sooth her with a calming voice. "If we can't get outta here, I don't think he's gonna allow himself to make it. Please! It's gonna be really hard for me to open this lock while I'm on the inside of the cage. You HAVE to open it for me! For my sake, and his..." Amy simply looked at him with her green eyes wobbling with salty liquid, nodded her head, and slowly started to work on the lock again.  
"Tails!...they aren't working! I've tried them all twice!" She exclaimed in a worriesome tone. "There's GOTTA be another key somewhere! Amy, go check that guard's pockets! I KNOW he has the key! He's the one who locked this cage to begin with!" "M-hm..." Amy replied innocently, and took unbalanced steps toward the entrance door again.  
Even though Tails never really interacted with Amy much in the past, he knew how she felt, and he understood that with the love she had for Sonic, the fact that he wouldn't have hesitated to stick his spines through her hand if she had tried to touched him must've been tearing her apart. She had nothing but love for him, and she would easily and willingly give both her life, body, and everything she owned for him any day. All he had to do was ask, and whether it was with loving eyes or with crossed arms, tapping feet and annoyed eyes that looked away from her, and she would be there for him whenever, wherever, for whatever reason he needed. And then here he was, threatening her with his spines, willing to hurt her badly, even if all she tried to do was tap him on his shoulder, if that was even visibly possible. In the past, Sonic had deserted her, ignored her, and sometimes even insulted her, but NEVER, had he even made a FEEBLE attempt, to hurt her. If something like that was to ever happen, the results would be catastrophic. Now Tails had both Sonic's, AND Amy's emotional health to worry about, not to mention his own...  
His thoughts were interrupted by Amy's hopeful wails. "Tails! I found it!" She yelped as she made a feeble attempt to run back to him. "But there's two of them..." She explained to him with teary eyes. "Oh dear, I hope one of them's the right one..."  
"Tails' head made a sharp turn towards the door, and he suddenly started to get EXTREMELY nervous. "Come on, Amy! The cops're coming! Get us outta here quick!" He whispered to her in a hurried voice. "Oh dear, okay, I'll try this one!" She whispered back as she stuck the key into the small hole and struggled to turn it.  
  
"Yeah, and so he starts riding on this shopping cart, y'know? And...WHAT IN THE WORLD!!??" Tails heard one of the incoming men talking loud and clear to another. "Amy... hurry up!!!" Tails started making small jumps and holding onto the bars of the cell very tightly, and suddenly had an unbearable urge to urinate.  
The two policemen charged into the room with their guns in hand, and shouted, "Stop! In the name of the law! You're under arrest for--" But it was too late, Amy had already finished turning the second key, and to her heart-calming delight, the cell door was unlocked.  
  
One small glance was all it took. Time itself couldn't measure the quickness between the time he was in the cell and the time he was out. The vast movement of the speed of his feet were unimaginable to the human eye, and as soon as Sonic heard the door to his cell unlock, it only took as fracture of a millisecond for him to charge at the door without bothering to lay his spines back first, grab both Amy and Tails by their wrists, and speed out of the jail cell at what seemed like the literal speed of sound. The two policemen were right in front of him before it happened, and even though their eyes were fixed upon the entire event, all they saw was a giant blue blur come at them with exhilarating speed and knock them out before they could even THINK about reacting. And as Sonic ran with blinding fear and rage, even Tails and Amy were afraid of him crashing in his now lunatic state.  
As Sonic ran even faster than he ever thought he could, alarms and guard robots started to trigger. Emergency closing doors and death traps stood no chance, as Sonic was completely out of the building and into what looked like a giant army facility, loaded with planes and trucks at every spot that he barely took the time to look at. Guard robots were smashed instantly upon contact, and above the enormously loud sounds of Sonic's dashing speed as he cut through the air and wind, Tails and Amy could here what sounded like an engine. A very large, LOUD engine.  
"Wh-What!? How did he get out!? No matter...you're a perfect target for me now, hedge-HOG!" The sinister doctor exclaimed to the very distant blue blur as he held what seemed like two handles with red buttons on their tips. He tried placing a little cross-shaped icon above the running hedgehog on the small screen beneath the handles he was glaring at. However, when he managed to place it over him, big, red letters came to his attention that spelled 'CANNOT LOCK'. "What!? WHY CAN'T I LOCK ONTO HIM!!!???" He yelled loudly and angrily as he pounded the large metal control panel with his fist. "Target cannot be locked onto, sir." The voice- automated computer answered back in a boring voice and tone. "Well WHY NOT!!!???" He exclaimed back. "Target is moving too fast, sir." "ARGH!!! Hold STILL you MISERABLE RODENT!!!" He yelled to Sonic as he started to fire at him without locking on.  
Sonic could hear the bullets as they planted themselves in the metallic ground just inches behind him, but gave it no thought as he ran at what seemed like three miles per second! The sounds of the guns that were shooting them were barely hearable over the wind of his own speed and the bullets hitting the ground, but they were loud enough for Tails to follow the sound and notice where they were coming from. If he wasn't out of breath already from Sonic's amazing speed, he would have gasped at the sight. He could barely believe it. It was the Egg Carrier...  
"CURSE YOU!!!! WHY CAN'T I EVER CATCH YOU!!!???" This time, Robotnik's temper was at it's max, and instead of shooting mere bullets, he decided there were bigger fish to fry..."I WILL make you stop, mark my word!" He opened up a flap to another handle with a red button, aimed as best he can, and shot out an ENORMOUS missile.  
The missile landed right at Sonic's heals, and it not for his life- saving speed, both him and his companions would be blown to smithereens. However, his speed was able to get him far enough to be just sent sailing and hit the ground twenty feet away from the now-smoking crater.  
"YES! YES! YES!!! The hedgehog is MINE!!!" He carefully aimed another missile, and prepared to press the red button of destruction...  
Sonic cringed as he hit the ground, and as he got on all fours to look up at his attacker, his eyes got filled with nothing more than pure anger and rage. He got up, got into a threatening stance with his knees half bent and spread and his arms held out at his sides with fists at their tips, and clenched his teeth so hard that Tails and Amy could here them creek as they rubbed against each other. Sonic saw the missile exit from it's cannon, and once again, used his super-sonic speed at it's best. He grabbed the keys Amy never had a chance to let go, started a super-fast mixture of a Sonic-spin and a spin dash, and through the keys toward the missile's nose as hard as he could. The explosion happened right inbetween the space between Sonic's eyes and the glass of Robotnik's cockpit. He gave his nemesis one more hateful glare before picking Tails and Amy up off the ground from which they never had a chance or the time it took to get up off of themselves, and placed them behind a large wall from which they would be safe from incoming bullets and missiles. Now it was time to "Do it, to it", in a whole new style.  
Robotnik clenched his teeth and gave a growl as he glared back at the blue hero who always took his dreams and plots and blew them in his face with a giant-sized smirk. He hated that hedgehog in every way humanely and psychotically possible, and even though the world itself was a nauseating piece of shining garbage that he wished to destroy once and for all, that darn blue spiky rodent held a special place in his dark, disgusting heart. He had such an intense hatred for him that every time he had him in his grasp, he couldn't just squash him quickly like a pathetic, worthless bug, he had to sabor the moment, watch him suffer and scream as all him dreams and loves were being taken away from him, nice, and slowly. he wished to see him cry, plead, and beg for mercy at his merciless heals. He smiled at the thought with a definate noticeable hint of evilness, and just couldn't BARE the thought of ceasing that opportunity once again. "This time," He thought. "You're MINE!!!"...  
As soon as Robotnik pressed the original red buttons once more, Sonic ran at full speed, dodging the bullets that aimed for him. He used his trademark speed in two ways this time, for both running while dodging extremely fast bullets, and scanning the area for ideas. It wasn't until he spotted a loaded cannon meant for shooting down enemies or unidentified aircrafts did he have one of his also trademark ideas. When he ran towards it he noticed it only had one missile, and Robotnik's bullets were right on his tail. He turned and ran in a complete circle with his one arm tucked to his side and the other pointing forward while slanting at the elbow and his blue legs invisible beneath the red and white blurs that were his feet. He ran towards the cannon, hit the trigger, made another complete circle around it with Robotnik's bullets still skinning his spines, ran atop the cannon, leaped upward head-first off it's tip with his arms stretched out in front of him, and grabbed the now-flying missile by it's nose and hung on, soaring up into the sky towards the Egg Carrier with it.  
That's when he did the first 'impossible' stunt of that day. Somehow, in a way even Tails couldn't explain, Sonic swung around the missile's body with his hands, flipped on top of it, and stood on it, both feet, with his knees bent and arms at his sides with his fists to his front, like he was riding the missile like a skateboard, so fast that even the speed of the missile's movement wasn't able to kick in and knock him off, and as he did that, he gave Robotnik a raging glare that would surely make his spine tingle.  
Sonic then used the missile's tilted body as a ramp and sped off of it, soaring into the air like a missile himself, sticking his arms to his side and keeping his body straight and stiff, causing the long blur behind him to make him look like a shooting star. While flying over the ship and reaching it's near-end, he somehow used his speed to kick off air itself, and in the most powerful homing-attack motion he had ever done in his life, soared downward, and broke right through the Egg Carrier's surface in a diagonal direction, heading right back for the missile, which was just inches away from it's impact with the ship. Before it hit, however, Sonic's original plan came to it's end point, and he headed right for it. When he got to it, he used it's body to flip himself upward again, but this time didn't bother landing on it, and allowed himself to sail up toward the sky, passed the cockpit, and back down as soon as the missile was about to hit. It exploded when Sonic was right above the glass in which Robotnik hid behind, and as gravity did it's work and pulled Sonic toward the ground below, and the fiery blast from the explosion was both under and right behind him, Sonic pointed a finger at Robotnik while positioning his body with his left arm tucked to his side and his knees half-bent with his sneakers pointing downward, and moved his mouth in the movements to say the word, "YOU!!!".  
This gave the mad scientist behind the glass an instant surge of fear, and he tried his best to turn around fast enough to get into the Egg- Walker. But before he could, Sonic kicked off pure air once more, and made a homing attack toward Robotnik's face. He broke through the bullet-proof glass and would have torn the Eggman's head off if it had not been for his robotic chair falling backward as his fear got the best of him and he tried to push back. The cockpit filled with smoke in the blink of an eye from the explosion under it, and the enraged hedgehog would have continued to assault him if it had not been for the ingenious escape artist Robotnik actually was. Since the Egg-Carrier had proven itself unsuccessful in the past, he hid the Egg-Walker somewhere in the cockpit, and flew off in it with it's recently updated jet-fuel engines. He flew off in a hurry, and left the Egg carrier to make an emergency landing into the bay.  
Sonic watched him as he flew away, and yelled in voice so loud that even Tails and Amy, who were a long way under him, could hear him perfectly. "ONE DAY, ROBUTTNIK!!! YOU'RE GONNA CROSS THIS HEDGEHOG'S LINE, MAN! YOU HEAR ME!!!??? AND WHEN YOU DO, I'M GONNA SETTLE THIS ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!!!" He looked around quickly for anything solid, and broke one of the handles off the control panel.  
"So, you wanna fly, aahh Robuttnik?" He said to no one in particular in a sarcastic tone. "Well this one's gonna leave ya flyin' wit' the stars!" He spun himself in a tornado motion, and threw the now-broken handle at the exact right time and right amount of strength that it hit Robotnik's little ship at it's hind core section, and caused it to start blowing smoke and fire out of it's new opening and start spinning around and twisting uncontrollably, but he still managed to fly out of sight. The blue hedgehog crossed his arms and tapped his foot in disappointment. He was actually aiming for his head, but even hedgehogs aren't lucky all the time.  
  
Tails and Amy watched in awe as the blue crusader dismounted himself from the falling Egg Carrier by making a huge leap towards the harbor. After the few seconds it took for him to reach their side, the large red ship made on last big explosion before hitting the sea with a great big splash that would have wet them all if it had not been for Sonic, who grabbed them both and ran them out of the way. Once they stopped, Sonic made a bunch of coughs and gasps that indicated the anger and stress and exhaustion that filled his mind and body, and Tails and Amy just bit their nails and looked toward the ground in discomfort.  
This was a day of firsts for the both of them. They've both seen Sonic get mad enough to let Robotnik die in an explosion or crash, but never has he so been so enraged that he would have killed him with his bare spines if he had had the chance. They've never known him to do such a thing. Although Sonic wouldn't mind defending himself by punching someone 'till they're knocked out, like he had almost done with Knuckles a few times in the distant past, he would never, EVER, get to the point where he was willing to end their lives. His heart was too pure and glorious to do such a thing, yet here he was, in the midst of a raging heart with nothing on his mind but revenge, even though he really had no proof that it was Robotnik who had caused him the pain of being locked in a jail cell, willing to spin-dash right through him and strangle his neck. If everything else that had happened didn't do it, NOW is when they were starting to question their love for their blue hero.  
As soon as Sonic was able to stand up straight and stop coughing and wheezing, the sounds of distant aircrafts filled his ears. He turned his head sharply in their direction. "W-what is it, Sonic?" Amy asked, stuttering once of twice in the nervous state she was in. "Aircrafts. From G.U.N. We'd better get the heck outta here." He answered as he hesitantly made a turn and grabbed their wrists. "Metal Harbor. I've been here before. I know exactly where ta' go, there's a forest North from this place. I can get there in a Sonic-Second."  
Both Tails and Amy noticed one of Sonic's arms start to shiver, indicating he was still tensed up either from the rage he had before or the fear he had before it. They didn't know just how mad he was, and they didn't know how to calm him. All they knew was now was not a good time to question him, and they simply let him pull them away in a gust of wind.  
  
A few minutes of running and ramp-crossing was all it took from them to reach the forest Sonic had mentioned earlier, and within seconds after that, they were deep enough to see nothing but trees and leaves at the horizon. They stopped in a small grassy plain, big enough to hold one small tent and a tiny campfire, and even a sliding tree for them to sit on. It wasn't Sonic's idea of a comfy paradise, but it would do well for one night of calming.  
As soon as he stopped, he immediately walked toward one of the surrounding trees, leaned his head and right hand on it, and started coughing and gasping again. Tails and Amy observed in awe as his entire body, spines and all, started to shiver, and his hands slowly turned to hard fists as he started to breathe and gasp louder. "Um......S-Sonic?" Amy called gently and nervously to him. "A-Are you gonna be--" "DARN IT!!! I SHOULDA HAD 'IM!!!! THAT DARN EGGMAN'S GONE TOO FAR!!!" He yelled out in a rage to no one in particular as he turned around to face them both with gleaming red eyes and tightly clenched fists. " I swear when I get my hands on him, I'm gonna--" "Sonic! Calm down! You don't even know WHY the cops were after you!" Tails yelled back in a wise tone, trying to get his blue comrad to cool his nerves. "Yeah, and I intend to find out! And when I do, SOMEONE'S gonna have a VERY bad day!" He stated as he threw a fist into the palm of his other hand.  
"Come on, Sonic! This isn't like you! You're the good guy here, you're the hero--" "HERO!? Yeah!? Well guess what!? I don't get PAID enough for all this crap! I've risked my life out there to save their butts HOW MANY TIMES!!!??? Come on, Tails! Buttnik and I have been goin' on our little runaround for years! Time after time I went out their and risked my hide for this crummy planet and in the end, all I get is a pair of handcuffs and a really tight lock! I'm not a hero anymore, Tails! I quit!" He yelled in Tails' face from a distance, and sped off with a loud crack toward the endless forest.  
Tails just stood their, staring into the direction Sonic had ran, and soon found himself with nothing else to do but plop down and cry. He didn't, though. He just sat there, in the middle of the small grassy plain, and thought deeply about what had just happened. Sonic had just given up...he had just flushed all his pride down the toilet. He had just turned his back on all his dreams, his fame....his heart. Could this really be it? Could it possibly be that only a small cell with a locked key was all it took to throw the blue individual he's looked up to since he was a small lad off his coarse and into the depths of a nobody? Was Sonic really giving up on the love he had for his dreams of freedom and peace and a happy, Robotnik-less world? No way. Not now. Not after ALL he's worked for....not after all of his accomplishments....not after they were so close to fulfilling their dreams...  
Besides the speed, the cool-ness, the fame....Besides the action, the adventures, the stunts...and besides the love, the freedom, and the endless happiness, he loved Sonic for his heart. Even in the heat of battle, when all seems hopeless and lost, the last thing on that hedgehog's mind was to give up, even if it meant giving up his own life for the battle to be won. For years, he's been going around helping others in need of a hero, even though he never really had any reason to do it. He wasn't getting paid. He wasn't getting a spot in the President's office, or getting loads of money from the people which he rescued. Even if they did offer him money, no matter how large in amount, he would never allow himself to take it. He loved his life just the way it was, and for some unknown reason, even though he could very easily strike at rich by starring in his own T.V. show or dating the daughter of a very rich man, he never really bothered doing it. Not once. He's been offered tons of things by tons of people tons of times, but never said yes unless it had something to do with a chilidog, and even then it can only be two or less. The truth is, he loved being a hero. He loved seeing people's smiling faces of pure glee and happiness after he's saved their lives and solved their problems for them. Happiness was his pay, and that's all it took to make him happy as well. Then he'd speed off into the sunset, and do the things he loves to do, like running or grinding on really long poles. No way, Sonic wouldn't give that up. He loved it too much. It was pretty much what kept him going besides his unbeatable speed, and Tails knew him too well to believe this was the end.  
"Tails? A-Are you okay?" Amy asked worriedly as she took small steps toward him and held her hands together in hope. "Yeah, I'll be fine." He answered as he slowly got up off the ground and looked Amy in the eyes. "Just give Sonic some time to think, he'll be back to his usual self... or......at least, I hope he will..." Amy could see in his big blue eyes that Tails was hurt after what Sonic had told him, but still, that undieing love he had for him still showed, and she was sure it would prevail to end all his worries.  
"Do you think we should...make a fire, or something?" She asked in hopes of comforting him and getting his mind off the present situation. "Naw, we shouldn't anyway. The smoke'll point the army right to us. We wouldn't wanna get Sonic in another jail cell..." He shivered as he answered back. "That was scary...I've never seen him so scared in my life....that one memory is gonna traumatize my dreams forever..." "He said as he held his eyes closed tight. "Shhh, yeah, I know. I almost cried when I saw him like that...but I'm sure he'll be himself again soon...I know he will, he can't be stopped just like that...that's why he's my hero...." She said in a sad tone. "Yeah...he's mine too. There's not a thing on this planet that can keep THAT hedgehog down. Right?" He forced a smile. "Right." She accepted, and smiled back. "Sonic'll be fine..." He said as he yawned while stretching out his arms. "Just fine...just like always...." His voice got lower, and lower, 'till he rubbed one of his eyes and sat on the fallen tree. "I'm-I'm gonna wait here for Sonic..." He said in the middle of another long yawn. "He'll come back soon, and I'll be here waiting for him..."  
He fell asleep soon after that, and Amy couldn't help but smile again as she watched the young kitsune lay his head on his hands and hold his knees close to his stomach as he slowly drifted off to a land where he, himself, was a world-known hero....  
  
The sky was still a smooth, dark blue, with only the smallest glint of bright light descending from the stars and caressing the green leaves and grass which covered the musty green forest in layers of white that flickered in the gentle push of the cool colorless wind. They surrounded a large, greyish-white sphere that was now impaling itself at the top of the endless sky and leaving the world beneath it in awe and wonder in it's mysterious beauty. It shone upon a small lake, noisy and rippling from the thunderous, yet soothing motion of a crashing waterfall that never ceased to slow it's one-sound beat. Resting at the lake's tip was a large, seemingly lifeless boulder, which would've been impossible to see if not for the shining moon and the stars that helped it glisten it's light. It was grey with black, with a few brown stains at it's bottom from the mushy wet dirt by the side of the lake, and at it's top, rested a soundless light figure, who's fur was embrazoned with a dark, silky-smooth color. It's position made it lean backward and onto the rock, giving it a good eye view at the starry night sky and preventing it from tipping over and crashing into the cold, rippling water. It rested it's body on it's rump, and used it's limbs to cover it's light peach center and green-pupilled face. While the bottom ones lay bended at their centers and balanced at the boulder's surface, the top ones hugged the previous ones' tops and helped cover the figure's shivering, tear-stained face. It wasn't just and ordinary, still figure, with red and white cloth for bases and sharp long needles to protect it's back. It was more that just a gleaming icon known world-wide for it's gleaming attitude and endless heroism. It was more that just a world-renouned idol that was thanked over and over by those who had been in physical and emotional turmoil. It was more than just an inspirational being that struck the minds and hearts of millions for what it had done in the past and the way it invented it's own lifestyle. It was more than just the bearer of a loving heart, said to be made of pure gold because of it's endless bravery and softness for others. It was a hedgehog. A hedgehog, in blue....  
As he sat soundless at the tip of the boulder, a pare of nervous, green, sorrowed eyes watched him within the cover of the dark green, overgrown grass, and as she watched him make no moves whatsoever, Amy creeped silently up to the rock, trying her best to step softly and slowly so as her red and white boots didn't crack any twigs or crunch an old leaf. "S-Sonic?" She said softly and quietly, trying not to startle the still, motionless figure.  
The half-rolled hedgehog simply turned his head a small amount, just enough to reveal his eyes from under his protective arms and legs, and moved back to his past position soon after. "Whad'ya want?" He asked in a cold, harsh manner, somehow proving he wished to be left alone. "I just wanted to see if you're okay...." She answered softly, moving her eyes down toward her booted feet. "Well I'm fine." He threw back, almost no emotion in his voice but a stale one. "Okay...I'll just go then....and leave you alone..." She stated as she hesitantly turned around and started to leave in small, quiet steps.  
Sonic rolled his eyes. "Hold up!" He said quickly as he quickly unrolled, turned the top half of his body around and stretched his arm out toward her. He couldn't stand hurting other people's feelings, even in the current emotional state he was in, and even though it was Amy. He didn't mind throwing her off the trail every now and then, but this time she was only trying to check up on him, rather than annoy him beyond belief. He couldn't shrug her off this time, not after the worried gleam he saw in her eyes just a few moments before.  
"Hm--uh...Yes, Sonic?" She stuttered inbetween as she nervously turned around and hoped for the best. "Uh....How'd you find me?" He asked quickly, as if trying to come up with something to say. "Well, you kinda left a wide trail after you sped off like that..." The pink hedgehog motioned toward a wide, long, half-deep ditch that left the grass and flowers beside it covered with dirt. "Oh...sorry 'bout that....I wasn't really in the mood to worry about flyin' dirt and flowers..." He said as the green in his eyes started to shine toward the semi-wet dirt once more. "Well...I'll leave you alone now...." She stated in a soft voice again, motioning toward the surprisingly large ditch. "Hold it!" She turned around again. "I mean...you don't have to go if you don't want too...Not that you HAVE to stay either, you can go if ya want, but you can stay if ya want, too..." He explained in babbled words. "You mean...you don't mind me staying?" A shine of hope entered her eyes, and all Sonic could bring himself to do was roll his eyes and shrug. "Nah, it's allright."  
Sonic tried to make it sound like she had all the choices, but somehow Amy sensed that this time, for the first time ever, he actually WANTED her to stay. Although she walked and spoke slowly, her mind raced with anticipation. This was an opportunity she COULDN'T miss.  
As she made her way toward the over-sized rock at which he sat on, Amy accidentally kicked a solid object that nearly made her trip and fall on her front. She looked down to see what it was, and had a surprised, yet confused look on her face when she saw it was a smooth red diamond that could be nothing more than a Chaos Emerald. "Oh my gosh..." She said to herself mentally. "I can't believe it....it's true..." She nearly cried at the thought, but somehow managed to hold it in and make her way toward the boulder.  
She tried to climb it, but couldn't get a good grip with her slippery boots and inexperienced hands. Sonic waited to see if she would be able to get up on her own, but grew impatient over a three second period and rolled his eyes again as he reached out his hand. "Need some help?" He asked boldly, and somehow managed to fake a smile. "....yyyyessss..." She said hesitantly as she slowly placed her right hand into his, and felt him give a slight tug as he helped her make her way up.  
Although his arms were long and thin, Amy could feel a slight tough of strength and manly-ness within them. Her weight didn't seem to effect him at all, except for the slight flex in his arm as it barely struggled to hold her from falling. The feeling of his long, gloved fingers and soft, but firm palm gave her a sudden sense of empowerment and safety as they wrapped semi-tightly around her soft, tender gloved hand. Although it had a strong, firm grip on it, Amy felt in no way like her hand was being squeezed, but simply like it was being held, without effort, just a firm, soft, safe hold, that prevented her from falling and getting hurt. This was the grip that could hold a child safely without squeezing it and making it cry, and that could calm a helpless kitten that's stuck on a tree with a simple touch, and prevent it from biting and scratching in a desperate attempt to defend itself. It was the touch that could reassure a helpless victim that he or she will be okay, and the touch that could calm the nerves of the most nervous beings that could possibly exist, and the touch that could bring a soft glimmer to the eyes of those who have lost all hope. It was the touch that could hold tight yet feel loose, and the touch that could grab hard yet feel soft. It was the touch of a loving hand, the touch, of a hero...  
She made her way to the top with the help of Sonic's hand, and almost longed for it's instant return as it released it's grip from her clasp and returned to being gripless at the blue hedgehog's side. She could still feel it's strong tenderness around her palm, and took a swift moment to look into Sonic's eyes and see the same cool, loving force she had previously felt in his hand. She fixed her dress quickly and quietly and carefully sat next to her beloved savior. She sat close enough to feel the tips of the fur on his arm brush against her own, and felt herself go into another mindless trance. His fur was so soft...so separated. It's almost like he had no fur at all, but a few strands of straight, soft hair that was easily seen, but not very noticeable. It wasn't like a fox's fur that was fluffy and well-connected, it was like each strand of hair was apart from the others, leaving a small amount of skin inbetween them, but not enough to actually see the skin which they kept warm. It added on to the look of his body, which seemed weightless and light, as if he wasn't sitting next to her at all. She could almost feel a breeze hit her from his direction, as if he wasn't sitting there at all. His body was so slender and thin, yet in some odd way, it was more athletic and powerful than skinny and weak. With his long, peach arms and his also long, blue legs, topped by humungous red and white sneakers, his body looked like it was swift and fragile, yet strong and powerful. His hands were large in size, too, but it just added to his astounding unique look. His long, sharp spines added to it vigorously, and made him seem even more powerfully slender than his front side alone. He had the look of a carefree individual who had nothing but happiness and the thrill of a nice long run in his mind, and somehow, in a very odd sense, instantly gave a symbolized sign of everlasting freedom and peace. Sonic's lightweight body almost gave Amy the urge to feel she was alone, happy.....free...  
She simply cleared her throat and clasped her hands together as she made herself comfortable, trying her very best to move her eyes out toward the waterfall and not toward the shining blue body beside her. The moonlight and stars shone onto him and caressed his fur with a shining tone that excluded him from the rest of the area. Sonic, only Sonic, because of the color of his dark blue fur and emerald green eyes, was able to shine so brightly and smoothly under the bright gazing moon. His outline was pearl white within the light's path, and the green in his eyes suddenly became a mystical illusion of a brand new color, one which Amy had never seen before, which was a mixture of shining green with pure white-ish grey light, that sparkled in a different tone every time she moved her head even if only in the slightest of slightly manners, and although she didn't know it, the blue-blazer's eyes reflected upon her's as she store at them and gave them a silver-ish green look within her's. Him, just sitting there, almost weightless, like he was nothing but air, with the wind softly blowing across his fur, and his beautiful spines and magnificent eyes, reminded Amy of all the reasons she loved him so much.  
"Is Tails alright?" Sonic suddenly broke the silence. "Y-Yeah, he's okay..." She replied softly. "Doh man, I shouldn't a' broke down on 'im like that...The poor keed musta've been heart-broken..." "Yeah, he was very stunned after you said what you said...and after you did all that you did..." She seemed distant when she spoke, and she did so in a very low tone. "It's just I hate small places! Makes the walls look like they're closin' in on me! No space to run or walk around, almost like ya can't move at all, like ya can't breathe. Makes me go hedgehog-crazy...still, I shouldn'ta' yelled at him like that...Now he's probably afraid of me...'specially after that spikin' I gave 'im back in the cell..." "You hurt Tails?" Amy asked in surprise. "Yeah...I didn't mean to, I just wasn't thinking...How could I have done that? He wasn't doin' anything wrong...it's just when he touched me, I felt the instant urge to defend myself, like he was tryin' ta hurt me or somethin'...Doh man, I'm such a dope!" He yelled as he banged his forehead against his knee and squinted hard. Amy just looked at him as he spoke, and could almost feel the trauma he must have been going through, and wished that somehow, someway, she could fix his problem for him. "I'll have ta talk with 'im tomorrow...But it ain't gonna work. I'm bad with 'I'm Sorries'...I don't even sound good sayin' it! ....But I'll make it up to 'im somehow. That keed's got kinda heart I'll never have, and'll forgive me no prob! It's just the fact that I hurt 'im that gets me goin' down..." "Amy continued to look him down slightly, and turned her head toward the lake in thought of his words. "No use cryin' over it now, though. Guess I'll just have to apologize...is he awake?" "Nope...He fell asleep waiting for you to come back..." "Man, better not go over there at full speed then, wouldn't wanna wake 'im up." "Mmmm..." She answered with a small nod and a VERY short smile.  
He hesitated at his next question, but somehow found the courage, and the will to hear Amy's voice go on and on in one of her stories, and let it escape his mouth. "....What about you?" "Huh?" She asked in confusion as she lifted her head to face him. "H-How're you feelin'?" He looked at her with green eyes full of concern, and it made her bow her head down in their mystifying beauty. "Oh....well....I'm okay...." "You sure? You seemed kinda speechless when we got to the forest..." "No, it's just....Sonic, the way you looked at me...so full of anger and hatred...like you wanted to attack me...." Her eyes got watery and her voice got squeakier with every word, 'till she buried her face in her hands and finally broke down to tears. "Aw, come on, Amy...I didn't mean anything..." Sonic tried to cheer her up with his soft words, wondering how and WHY he had gotten himself into THIS. Now, knowing himself all too well, he knew he wouldn't have the heart to just leave her crying. He HAD to find a way to cheer her up without getting on one knee and proposing to her. If anything, he at LEAST had to stop her from crying.  
"Aw, come on, Aimez, there's no reason ta cry...." She slowly looked up at him and wiped away her tears with a loud sniff. "W-What...did you....call..me?" "Huh? Oh, Aimez....why?" She looked at him with wobbly, sad eyes that seemed to have a microscopic hint of glee within them. Not saying a word, she just looked at him as if expecting him to say something else. "....You saved me y'know..." He said truthfully, trying to change the subject and prevent her from crying again. She sniffed. "What?" "You got me outta that prison. If you hadn't come, I'd probably still be in there..." "Oh, that's okay..." She said as she wiped her final tear and, to Sonic's relief, calmed down completely. A hint of depression and sadness was still within her though, and Sonic, being the hero that he is, wouldn't be satisfied until she was completely normal again. "Hey, no way! It isn't okay!" He yelled in a strong, heroic tone. "Hmm?" She mumbled, looking at him with her head bent sideways and resting on her hand.  
"If it wasn't for you, I'd probably have NEVER gotten outta there! I hate ta say it, but...I owe ya, Amy..." He said with a smile that he hoped would bring one upon her. "Oh.....no, you don't owe me a thing. You've saved my life lotsa times...It's okay, Sonic..." He was off the hook, but she was still sad, and he just HAD to do something about it! Somewhere inside him, deep in the depths of his legendary golden heart, he truly wished to make her happy, and he rolled his eyes before he spoke his next words. "No, but I WANNA repay ya! Honest!" He assured her with a certain expression. "Really? You WANNA pay the favor?" She asked, uncertain. "Yeah, just name it! ANYTHING you want!....just don't make it a kiss or a wedding or something, I'm too young ta get married." He sighed slowly. "I'll even go..." He cringed at the thought. "shopping with you...." "Hmmmm...." She thought about the offer, wisely, and considerably.  
Something about the way she looked, just at that moment, struck Sonic's eyes and couldn't release it's grip. The way her eyes sparkled under the moonlight as she returned to her normal, "Amy", state, caught his eye, and he felt a surge of victory and relief at the sight. "YYYESSSS!!!!" He said to himself in his mind, as he made a short, unnoticeable fist in a victorious sort of way. Then she looked him in the eye again. "Wellllll....you can repay me right now, if ya want......"  
"Huh? Now? Right this instant?!" He said dumbly and taken aback. "Yeah! I MEAN...if you want to....you can always repay me some other time if you want I just thought since we're alone and we have pretty much nothing to do that--" "Okay, cool, you got it!" He said as he got annoyed at her random rambling. She bit her lip in thought. "Hey...Ya saved my life. Thanks....Aimez...." He looked deeply into her eyes with a smile only HE can pull off. The gaze in his eyes caused her to lose control and lean forward in a falling motion, causing her head to land on his chest as she wrapped her arms around his neck. " Oh Sonic....I love it when you call me that..." She said as she closed her eyes and tightened her still-loose grip. Sonic, who was VERY taken aback by this, and who's eyes were wandering in every direction for a direct escape as his teeth suddenly rubbed against each other, had absolutely NO IDEA what he was supposed to do now, or how to get Amy off him without making her cry again.  
"Uh....Yeah...." He said inbetween sweatdrops as he scratched the back of his head. When he realized she wasn't planning on letting go, he decided to slowly and gently wrap his arms around her too. He hesitated over and over until his arms completely slid around her back and contained her within his grasp, and when she felt the warmth and comfort of his arms wrapping completely around her, she snuggled up even more and held him a little tighter than before, causing the blue speedster's nerves to shake even more in mental discomfort. Although he almost ENJOYED the warmth her body endowed upon him, he'd much rather have been free, and little by little he started to tap his fingers on her back in impatience. Still, she didn't let go, and he slowly felt himself starting to drift in thought.  
Did he really mean those things he said to Tails? Was he really giving up? And if so, why? Because people saw him as a bad guy now? Because he was overpowered by mere policemen and taken to a jail cell that's probably smaller than some kid's tree house? Nah, no way. He never cared what people thought of him before, so why should he now? He wasn't gonna let Tails down now, not after he'd proven over and over that what he once told him as a small child was true. He gave a slight grin at the thought of what he had told him. "Listen Tails, this hedgehog's like usin' the toilet! You can hold him back only so long 'till one way or another, he catches up to ya!" He remembers the small giggles Tails responded with, and this time, a loving smile rather than a trademark grin crossed the side of his face. "Doh man, that keed grew up too fast for even ME to notice." He thought to himself. "Guess I just sorta missed it..." No matter, the next day he would forget everything he had said and go back to his original heroic ways. Why? It doesn't matter why. He simply erased that memory and lived on as himself. Why? He didn't have regrets. He didn't NEED regrets. There was no time to live his life in regret, cause' time didn't wait for him, it just crept by at super-sonic speed. It didn't matter what he said before, he'll just live his life his own way, whichever way he chose. That's the way this hedgehog thought, and now, just like he always had, he chose to go his own way.  
"Sonic?" Amy broke the silence and the hedgehog's train of thought. "What's up?" He asked calmly. "Do you really find me annoying when I follow you around?" "Huh?" If her sudden grasping of his body didn't surprise him before, this question CERTAINLY did the trick. "Y'know...the way I get so happy when I see you and start hugging you and suggesting ways we can get married or go on dates..." "Ummm...." He was really cornered at this point. One wrong move and she'll be staining his fur in tears, and as his personality probably made obvious, Sonic the Hedgehog HATES taking baths. "....I really do love you, Sonic...but I'll stop, I'll leave you alone, if you want me too..." Sonic's eyes grew wide at her statement. One simple sentence and all his Amy Rose problems would be gone! He'd be free of yet one MORE thing, but soon he noticed she started to squeeze his body tight in hope and worry that she'll never see him again and that he really DOES dislike her presence, he found himself trying to think of a way to calm her down, again. "Uhhh....nah, it's cool Aimez." She let go of him and looked at him with a straight, serious face. "Really?" Sonic would hit himself later for this, but found himself tensing his body and gripping the rock beneath him VERY tightly, 'till he finally managed the words, "Yeah...Really..."  
"You mean...you don't really find me annoying? You don't really wish with all your heart that I'd just leave you alone and stop following you everywhere you go?" She asked as a sudden hint of happiness emerged within her eyes. "Well, butting in on my adventures and making life harder by gettin' captured all the time is MONDO uncool, but not knowin' when you're gonna show up kinda makes life a little more excitin'. Adds some thrill to it, I guess..." "Oh Sonic!" She yelled out in glee as she grasped him in another hug. "And for all this time I thought you couldn't stand me..." He cursed himself mentally. "Thank you, Sonic..." She said with tears of joy running down her face. "GREAT! Now I made her cry again! This hero stuff's gettin' harder and harder every single day!!!" He yelled in his mind. "Uh...for what?" He asked as his temper argued with his conscience. "For making me happy...again..." She answered with her tears still escaping her eyes.  
"Uh, no prob..." Another sweatdrop started to form on the side of his head as he tried to figure out a way to get himself out of another one of Amy's famous bear hugs. "So...what should I do ta' repay ya?" He asked in hope of a miracle. "Um...well...if we can't get married or go on a date..." "Great, now she's gonna ask for a Magic Carpet ride or somethin'..." The hedgehog's mind said to itself. "Well, the one other thing I've always imagined would happen the day we fall in love is us dancing to sweet music under the stars..." She said as her eyes pointed diagonally upward in a state of thinking dreamily. "Come on!" She said in an excited voice as she slid off the rock and trotted happily across the grass, like the Amy Sonic's akways known and ran away from.  
"Uh...dance?" He asked as he gritted his teeth and backed away as much as possible without tipping over the rock. "Yeah! Come on, it'll be fun!" "But-but-but...I don't dance!-I mean there's no music-I mean....You can't be serious!" Sonic waved his arms and hands in front of him, trying his best to convince her skip the idea. His efforts were to no avail. "What? You mean, you can't dance?" "No! I mean, I never learned! I mean...I HATE DANCING!!! Tried it once and I'll never try it again! I don't LOOK good dancin', I don't ACT good dancin'....Heck, I don't even DANCE good dancin'!....I'M NOT EVEN MAKING SENSE!!! If there's one thing I cannot do, it's dance! This hedgehog DOES NOT DANCE!!!!....besides, there's no music...." "So? We can pretend there is! That's what imagination is for, and come on, it's real easy! You wouldn't want me to cry again, would you?" Amy gave him the 'sad puppy eyes', and Sonic looked away and winced hard. "No way! Absolutely not! Think of somethin' else, this hedgehog's not dancin'! Not now, not EVER!!!" "But....but you said you'd do anything...please, Sonic? If you don't, I might get sad again...you wouldn't want that, would you?" She faked a sniffle. "NO! Don't start cryin'! DON'T START CRYIN'!!! FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, DON'T START CRYIN'!!!!" "So will you dance with me?" "NO!!!!!" She started sniffling some more, and buried her face in her hands. Sonic crossed his arms and looked away. She started making noises. "HMPH!" This time he turned his whole body away. "Waaaaaa-ha-ha.....!!!!! WAAAAAAA-ha-ha-ha-ha.....!!!" "Grrrrrrrr-OKAY!!!! You win! I'll do whatever you want! Just don't go askin' for my chilidogs......" "YAY!!!! She jumped up in victory with her arms up in the air and grabbed Sonic's wrists. "I knew you'd come through, Sonic! You're my hero!" He sniffed hard. "Yeah, I know."  
She held his wrists tightly and started to pull, but he pulled back hesitantly. "Come on! You have to stand up if you're gonna dance, silly." She giggled cutely, annoyingly in Sonic's mind. "Uh, no I don't! I can dance...WITH MY HEAD! See?" He started to shake his head from side to side, with his eyes closed tightly and a sweatdrop running down his head. He stopped. "There ya go! Enough dancin'! Time ta get some shuddeye!" He jumped off the rock, with Amy still grasping at his wrists, and made an attempt to run away. "NO!" She yelled in defiance. "You said you would dance with me! You promised!" "Okay! You wanna dance, you got it!" He grabbed her head with one humungous hand and moved it around. "Dum-dum-dum- dum-dee-dee-dee, okay! Glad we got that over with, let's bookie!" Sonic had been talking REALLY fast, and Amy barely had enough time to stand her ground as he finished talking and tried to run for it again. "NO!!! No no no!!! You said it yourself! You owe me! And I wanna dance!" She yelled with mad eyes. "But we just did!" "NO! Don't play dumb with me, Sonic Hedgehog! That's not what I meant and you know it!" "Well gee ya didn't exactly lay it out for me on a piece o' paper...Maybe next time ya save my life ya'd better put more talkin' into it....On second thought that'd be too annoying, maybe a letter? Wait, can't stand readin' hand-writin'..." "SONIC!" "What!?" She sniffled again. "Okay! Okay! You win! Just don't make it too long, please. This hedgehog HATES movin' slow..." "Yay! You ALMOST had me fooled, Sonique! For a second I actually thought you were gonna go back on your word! Silly me, I know you better than that!" Amy clapped her hands with glee. Sonic had a confused look on his face. "Sonique? Where'd THAT come from?" "I don't know, I just made it up!" "No, I meant I heard it somewhere..." He seemed deep in thought when she asked. "Someone called you that before?" "Yep, just can't remember....Oh yeah! Some Japanese kid called me that when I saved him from one of Eggman's machines! The poor keed, he didn't know English..."  
"Awwww, I hoped that would be MY name for you...." Amy gave another sad expression. "You mean besides, "My Herooooooo, oh that Sonic is just so sweet with his good looks cool moves and unbearable figure oh I just can't help but LOVE him!!! " Sonic mocked with his face resting on his clasped hands and his eyes blinking surprisingly fast with a shining tint to them. "Oh blah blah! That's not funny!" She shot back as the blue hedgehog laughed at his own joke. "Oh come on, Aimez! You know that's what you say about me when you're deep in thought!" "Yeah, but you don't have to make fun of me!" "Who's makin' fun of ya? Trust me Aimez, if I wanted to make fun of ya, it'd be ALOT worse than this!" "So what're you doing?" "Just statin' the truth! Ya can't get mad at me for tellin' the truth! It's what heroes do!" "Oh God you are impossible!" "Oh come on! I just wanted ta bring a laugh outta ya!" "By making fun of me!?" "I wasn't makin' fun of ya!" "Oh yes you were!" "No I wasn't!" "You were too!" "Was not!" Was too!" "Was not!" "Was too!" "Was not!" "Was too!" "Do ya really want me ta go any faster?" "You were making fun of me and you know it!" "So what if I was? Are you gonna be mad at me now?" "Well of coar-" Sonic cut her off. "Cause' y'know...if you're mad, then we really can't do that whole dancin' thing, can we?" She thought for a moment. "Oh all right! Just don't do it again! I don't like being made fun of..." "Okay okay, let's just get this over with!" "You promise?" "Promise what?" "That you won't make fun of me anymore!" "Nope!" "Why not!?" "Cause' one day a good joke's gonna come by and I'm gonna break that promise without thinking twice!" "Oh come on!" "No way, Babe. Not this time. You said you wanted a dance, and a dance you're gettin'. No double-whammies!" "Okay, well can you promise not to make fun of me just for this night?" "Just this night? No prob! Can't think of any jokes anyway..." "You promise?" "Listen Aimez, a hedgehog's word is a hedgehog's pride! It just can't be broken!" She smiled. "Okay, I guess one night's good enough for me." "Good, cause' this hedgehog can't hold back a good crack too long...." The more they talked, the closer they were getting to the middle of the small grassy clearing Amy had pointed to earlier. And before he knew it, Sonic had walked into her little trap.  
"Soooo....how about that dance?" "Huh? Dance? Oh yeah...dance...ummm..." "You're already standing where you're supposed to..." "I AM!?" He looked down at the ground. "Oh yeah...I am...Y'know maybe this isn't such a good ide-" "Come on, Sonic! It's easy!" Amy insisted as she grabbed his right hand and pulled him towards her. "Look, just do what you think you should do!" "I think I should get the heck outta here!" "Would you be serious?" "Okay, okay! Just don't tell anyone if I do somethin' stupid..." "I won't!" "You mean there's a chance of me doin' somethin' stupid!?" "NO!!! Come on, don't back out on me!" "Okay! Go ahead, hurry up and start..." "Well, my hands go here..." She said as she wrapped her arms around Sonic's neck. Just at that moment, Sonic noticed she had turned COMPLETELY into her old self. "You're taller than I thought you were!" "It's the long legs with the small stomach, makes my shoulders look like they're way down low..." She giggled sweetly. "So...where do my hands go?" "Can't you guess? It's pretty obvious!" She giggled again. "Ummm..." He hesitantly placed his hands upon her shoulders. "Here?" "No, silly! They go around my waists!" She giggled yet again, as if having the greatest time of her life. "Oh...I knew that!" Sonic sweatdropped. "Uh...." He removed his hands from her shoulders and lowered them, but Amy didn't feel them touch her at all. "Let me help you with that..." She said as she unwrapped her arms from his neck and grabbed his left forearm. "Right here. See? Those're my waists!" She explained to him inbetween giggles as she placed his arm not around her waist, but right next to it, with his hand touching the side of her stomach. Sonic left it where it was, not knowing what to do, and let his enormous hand almost engulf one entire half of her stomach and back without thinking. Amy didn't seem to notice either, and waited observingly as Sonic slowly placed his other hand on her opposite side. The tips of his fingers nearly touched each other at the center of her back, almost like he was holding her against her will, like he was controlling her, like she was....his...  
She replaced her arms around his neck, and couldn't help but softly stroke the base of one of his lower spines, and Sonic couldn't help but notice how soft and fragile her body was. It was like all he had to do was give a slight squeeze, and he'd hurt her into crying. The way he thought of it, it was like holding a chilidog that had too much chili, one slight squeeze and the chili'll overflow and drop to your feet. Not a good thing when you're in a big hurry or desperately wish to get something over with. Still, he held his ground. Breaking a promise was NOT this hedgehog's way to go, and although he had a really great urge to step back and run away, he couldn't stand the thought of Amy crying again. So, he went against his ego, and granted one of the many wishes the pink hedgehog before him dreamed of every night of her life.  
They both just stood there, posed in the position to dance, but hadn't brought themselves to actually doing it yet. Although she could've sworn they had locked eyes for a moment, Amy decided to move on, taking a small step to the side and breaking the stillness between them. Sonic simply stood his ground, and only his arms moved in the direction Amy had taken. She looked at his dumbfounded face, which just made a slight shrug in ignorance, and realized he was just-plain clueless. "Try to follow my steps, Sonic. We can't dance unless we're moving together!" "Wa? Oh, right, move, yeah." He replied in stupidity, trying to make himself sound as un- dumb as he can. He followed her first and only step, and was once again standing still directly in front of her. "Good.now try to do that every time I move." She explained obviously, as if wondering why the blue one before her found this so difficult. "Um, okay?" He sweatdropped and shrugged stupidly again, and his bright green eyes seemed to ask for immediate mercy. Amy took a step back, and Sonic followed a second later. She took a step to the right, and Sonic followed. To the front, and Sonic followed. To the left, and Sonic followed. Then back to the left, and just as before, Sonic followed. Still, something seemed not right, and although he was doing just as the pink female had told him, he still seemed to be doing it all wrong. She realized this wasn't the 'romantic dance' she was hoping for, and made a huge sigh before releasing his neck and removing his hands from her waists.  
"Forget it." She said as she tilted her eyes downward and turned back toward the rock. "Wha--.why?" He asked in confusion, his elbows bent upward and his hands parallel to his shoulders. He lowered his hands to his sides after he asked, and just waited for a reply. Amy just sat with her back leaning against the rock and sighed. "No, it's okay, just.forget the whole thing." "But why? I was doin' what you said! You took a step, and I followed! You took another step, and I followed again! Or was I supposed to do something else the second time?"  
He dug for an answer, trying his best to make her change her mind. Sure, he wasn't too fond of the whole thing, but unless she was happy, he wouldn't be fond at all. "N-no, you were doing just great, it's just." She lowered her head, and Sonic walked up to her and stood in front. "It's just.what?" "Well, I've always dreamt of us dancing together, but in my dreams, you always WANTED to dance with me. It was always out of love. This time, you're just holding me and following steps, hoping that it'll all be over soon." "Yeah, so? I'm dancin' with ya! Isn't that all that matters?" He asked as he looked down upon her. She looked up at him and sighed. "No, it isn't." "Then what is? Tell me, Aimez.I wanna make ya feel better."  
She looked into his eyes, and instead of just pure annoyance like before, there was something different within them this time. There was a shining, shimmering glint to them that told her he actually cared, and actually yearned to know why she chose to reject him. He was worried about her, and honestly felt the urge to make her feel better, and not finding the strength to look away from him, she had no choice but to give in and talk.  
"Well, Sonic.in my dreams, you do everything you do for me out of love, because you WANT to do them with me.I don't wanna take your love whenever I have the chance and use it for my own pleasures, I want you to GIVE you love to me, Sonic." She explained in a soft, sorrowful voice. Sonic sighed and looked at the ground. "But Amy.I honestly, truly just don't love you.ya have ta understand that." His voice was soft and sorrowful too, and he feared he'd hurt her feelings once again, and this time it wasn't a joke. "I know, Sonic.that's why I don't wish to dance with you. I know you don't want to, so I won't force you. I've always dreamed of you WANTING to dance with me, and unless you do, then the feeling just isn't there, and my wish isn't complete."  
Sonic looked up and smiled with shining, hopeful eyes. "But Amy, I DO wanna dance with ya!" Amy's eyes shot up and looked deep into his. "You do!? But I thought--" "I said I wanted ta make ya feel better, didn't I? And if dancin'll make ya feel better, than I wanna dance with ya!" "But Sonic-" "And besides." "Sonic hid his hands behind his back, tilted his head downward and drew circles in the dirt with his right sneaker.  
"Besides.what?" She asked confoundedly, trying to find a way to lock her eyes with his again. "Now ya got me curious." He stated while maintaining his current posture. "You mean.you wanna LEARN how to dance, too!?" "Well.yeah! Ya had me doin' it for awhile, so I might as well finish it, right?" He stopped twiddling his foot as he spoke, stood up straight in his usual, proud manner, and made his trademark smile as he looked into her eyes once more. "I.I guess." Amy stuttered. "Then what're we waitin' for!? Let's bookie!" Sonic said as he ran to the spot he was in before, happy as ever that the pink hedgehog wasn't sad anymore. "Well.okay." She got up hesitantly, and walked up to him slowly.  
"You're SURE you wanna dance?" "No words're better than actions, sleed! And I'm standin' right here!" Sonic spread his arms a little. "Sleed?" Amy asked as she continued to walk, eyeing his every move closely. "Well, couldn't call ya keed, that only works with kids! Had ta think of somethin'!" Amy slowly and carefully took his hands and continued to eye him. "Chill out, Aimez! I won't bite! Honest!" She allowed a smile to creep out of her face, and even a small giggle shortly after. "What if I were a hotdog?" "A hotdog, maybe. But a chilidog, NOW you're in the gutter!" He smirked his famous smirk, and she giggled, this time, in full. "Only YOU would like something so sloppy and dirty. Don't your gloves get dirty?" "Trust me, Babe. Every ounce of every inch o' them dogs goes into my mouth and down my throat, NOTHIN' gets left ta spare!" He winked this time, and Amy giggled yet again, now happy with the current situation.  
  
Okay, so you don't see anything new except a few paragraphs.well look more closely, guys! I've re-formatted the fic so the paragraphs'll be clear, so instead of pressing the spacebar five times, I went back and hit Tab for EVERY paragraph in the fic. MAN that was annoying. Chapter four is being worked on as you read this, so be patient, okay? Later dudes! And may the Hedgehog be with you!  
  
~~SonicFrank: Long live the Blue Hedgehog 


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